Thailand awash in fake TB drugs

By Coconuts Bangkok

BANGKOK: -- According to a study published in the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, many of the anti-tuberculosis medications being sold in developing countries such as Thailand are either fake or of a substandard quality.

newsjsScientists from the United States conducted the test, in which they asked locals in Bangkok and 18 other cities to purchase sample doses of common TB medications.

After testing, the scientists found that these medications often did not dissolve in water (as is necessary to enter the bloodstream) and that as many as half of them had no active ingredients. [more...]

Full story: http://www.coconutsb...-fake-tb-drugs/

-- COCONUTS Bangkok 2013-02-06

House of cards.

I am generally opposed to the death penalty, but those people and companies that are actively involved in fake medicines such as these are an exception I could live with. Messing with bacterial agents and medication is akin to using biological weapons and threatens millions of people.

Shock.

Thailand, the hub of fake TB treatment?

Edited February 6, 201313 yr by Payboy

Nothing new here Thailand the HUB of fakes

My mate had/has TB and it took a year to control. Very unpleasant. Perhaps this is why. He got his drugs from Phuket hospital for the main part.

I am generally opposed to the death penalty, but those people and companies that are actively involved in fake medicines such as these are an exception I could live with. Messing with bacterial agents and medication is akin to using biological weapons and threatens millions of people.

I wonder if there will be any action by the government against the drug companies that produce these fake drugs?

It may be relevant to consider the affiliations of the scientists involved. Were they related to drug companies? Who financed them.

My mate had/has TB and it took a year to control. Very unpleasant. Perhaps this is why. He got his drugs from Phuket hospital for the main part.

TB is a difficult disease to get rid of and requires a strict treatment regimen. Sounds like your made had the latent variety and although the normal treatment course was about 9 months, it can drag on. Due to the reporting requirement, it is more likely than not that a decent hospital will be purchasing its drugs from a reputable supplier. Unfortunately, as we have seen all over the world, the production of a great many active ingredients is now centralized in India and China. For example, China is now the world's major source of aspirin. I have limited confidence in the Indian supply chain. Although most of the multinational pharmaceutical companies now have facilities in India, where India falters is in its supply chain. The oversight is not as good as it is in countries such as Japan or Germany. It is the purchasing pharmaceutical company's responsibility to test the supplied ingredients. There are now so many pieces in the production chain of drugs, in some cases 10 or more, that the possibility of substitution or screwing around is heightened. It's not just Thailand that has the problem but countries such as the USA with one of the best surveillance systems, too. The opportunities to cheat and the profit margins for the cheats are very tempting. We've just seen the tragic consequences of a compounding pharmacy in the USA that injured and killed patients receiving the drugs it prepared.

And before anyone blames big pharma, the pressure to reduce the cost of drugs comes from the purchasing blocks. For example, in canada, the provincial health ministries buy in bulk and demand low prices. The suppliers have to meet those cost targets and that means sourcing from the lowest cost suppliers. The end result has been the destruction of national drug production capabilities and a dependancy on countries like India and China to supply the drugs. If a war broke out tomorrow with China and its production chain was disrupted, millions of people in the west would find that they could not obtain their drug products in a short period of time.

In Thailand, the vigilance system just isn't there. IMO the Thai FDA is understaffed and over worked and it is impossible for the agency with its limited resources to monitor the drug supply in Thailand. It's not just a Thai problem but we see it in Australia, the UK and elsewhere. When people are caught, it is difficult to make a case and the culprits rarely do hard time. Only China imposes very harsh penalties on offenders when they are caught. However, it usually takes alot of people dying or suffering complications before that happens. As some of you may recall, the Chinese sourced ATI in a blood thinner used in the EU and USA was implicated in multiple deaths. Someone had played around with the drug.

In respect to thailand, the most likely counterfeit drugs to date have been non specialty drugs, drugs that have been on the market for years, e.g. generics and popular products such as Viagra. It is also a major issue with malaria medications. My personal feeling is that some of the HIV medications in Thailand are useless products as well. The only way of obtaining any assurance of quality is to purchase from a reputable hospital pharmacy. Unfortunately, even then one doesn't know if the pharmacists and purchasing agents have screwed around. I haven't ever heard of the FDA doing a hospital audit and actually taking large sample sizes for testing. What amazes me is that Thais still have such confidence in their medications.

Edited February 6, 201313 yr by geriatrickid

and can they name where they bought it ?

this is seriously criminal

i always laugh with fake bags and copied cd's.... that is just for fun

but this is life and death ... who in the chain is making a lot of money with infectious deseases ?

They need to nip this in the bud. Otherwsie people will start selling fake Viagra from roadside stalls

They need to nip this in the bud. Otherwsie people will start selling fake Viagra from roadside stalls

Ok if they have a Viagra test facility nearby with reasonable barfines.

This a real and serious crime. It causes that resistant bacteria could come up and more people get infected. It kills people. This matter must be controled by the authorities and involved companies should be closed and responsible management should be punished hard.

Conning money out of sick people. How sick can they get?

I would say that selling such things is on a par if not, actually worse than smuggling drugs. The consequences in terms of drug resistance and suffering being placed on unwitting patients is horrendous.

Amongst other fake things

Most things are fake here. Fake smiles, fake boobs, fake butts, fake medicine, fake DVD's. Who's surprised?

My mate had/has TB and it took a year to control. Very unpleasant. Perhaps this is why. He got his drugs from Phuket hospital for the main part.

TB is a difficult disease to get rid of and requires a strict treatment regimen. Sounds like your made had the latent variety and although the normal treatment course was about 9 months, it can drag on. Due to the reporting requirement, it is more likely than not that a decent hospital will be purchasing its drugs from a reputable supplier. Unfortunately, as we have seen all over the world, the production of a great many active ingredients is now centralized in India and China. For example, China is now the world's major source of aspirin. I have limited confidence in the Indian supply chain. Although most of the multinational pharmaceutical companies now have facilities in India, where India falters is in its supply chain. The oversight is not as good as it is in countries such as Japan or Germany. It is the purchasing pharmaceutical company's responsibility to test the supplied ingredients. There are now so many pieces in the production chain of drugs, in some cases 10 or more, that the possibility of substitution or screwing around is heightened. It's not just Thailand that has the problem but countries such as the USA with one of the best surveillance systems, too. The opportunities to cheat and the profit margins for the cheats are very tempting. We've just seen the tragic consequences of a compounding pharmacy in the USA that injured and killed patients receiving the drugs it prepared.

And before anyone blames big pharma, the pressure to reduce the cost of drugs comes from the purchasing blocks. For example, in canada, the provincial health ministries buy in bulk and demand low prices. The suppliers have to meet those cost targets and that means sourcing from the lowest cost suppliers. The end result has been the destruction of national drug production capabilities and a dependancy on countries like India and China to supply the drugs. If a war broke out tomorrow with China and its production chain was disrupted, millions of people in the west would find that they could not obtain their drug products in a short period of time.

In Thailand, the vigilance system just isn't there. IMO the Thai FDA is understaffed and over worked and it is impossible for the agency with its limited resources to monitor the drug supply in Thailand. It's not just a Thai problem but we see it in Australia, the UK and elsewhere. When people are caught, it is difficult to make a case and the culprits rarely do hard time. Only China imposes very harsh penalties on offenders when they are caught. However, it usually takes alot of people dying or suffering complications before that happens. As some of you may recall, the Chinese sourced ATI in a blood thinner used in the EU and USA was implicated in multiple deaths. Someone had played around with the drug.

In respect to thailand, the most likely counterfeit drugs to date have been non specialty drugs, drugs that have been on the market for years, e.g. generics and popular products such as Viagra. It is also a major issue with malaria medications. My personal feeling is that some of the HIV medications in Thailand are useless products as well. The only way of obtaining any assurance of quality is to purchase from a reputable hospital pharmacy. Unfortunately, even then one doesn't know if the pharmacists and purchasing agents have screwed around. I haven't ever heard of the FDA doing a hospital audit and actually taking large sample sizes for testing. What amazes me is that Thais still have such confidence in their medications.

The FDA is in my experience just a system to slow down importation of anything. They dont respect certified tests from overseas, and whilst I understand they want to do the tests themselves, all they have to do is to nominate testing laboratories overseas as being acceptable, and then products could be grandfathered in from overseas through reputable channels.

A friend of mine was trying to get a product imported into Thailand for supply to the chicken industry for sterilisation of equipment. The testing requirements took 9 months, even though it has been available in the EU for several years, and cost a fortune. None of the testing done in Europe was deemed acceptable. Beyond that, the amount of products that the FDA gets involved in is which range from Johnson's Baby lotion to animal vaccines.

Bizarrely though, in the industry in which I know well, bacterial products for waste water remediation require NO testing at all. It is enough to claim them as class 1 on the MSDS and in they come. Can you imagine the potential problems if these bacterial products are contaminated?

It is actually a quasi protectionist organisation to prevent new products coming into the market easily and speedily.

Edited February 6, 201313 yr by Thai at Heart

Yet another smudge on Thailand's reputation. Why doesn't the Culture Minister demand a withdrawal or denial of the article from the Bangkok Post?

Once again roving that too many people care more about money than an actual life.

Such a sad statement

So many cases about rampant corruption lately ...

IMO Thailand is upset that they were not #1 on the most corrupt list

The goal is seemingly to be #1 next year

Will the Thai Health ministry act on this report? Don't hold your breath as it is 'foreigners besmirching Thailand again'.

As the report says that the source of the drugs is known, it shouldn't be too difficult to go after the manufacturers, both legitimate & illegal. It is a very serious claim & I hope the media do follow this up.

Conning money out of sick people. How sick can they get?

Best ask a few of the private hospitals. They'd know.

I can't believe people are actually shocked.

Well I assure you that to me this comes as no surprise, and I am pretty confident that NOTHING will happen to the people doing this, possibly some arrests then when things die down, business back to normal.

Too many hi-so's involved in these fake drugs. This will die down and business will continue. Nobody cares in Thailand.. Life is cheap.

Give the pricks if caught a dose of TB by injection or whatever, a bottle of their own pills and wish them luck.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

This country has some really serious problems. LOS - Land of scams. But will there be follow up reports of any action taken, arrests, incarceration? Or just a storm in a tea cup and some payoffs as always.

My mate had/has TB and it took a year to control. Very unpleasant. Perhaps this is why. He got his drugs from Phuket hospital for the main part.

TB is a difficult disease to get rid of and requires a strict treatment regimen. Sounds like your made had the latent variety and although the normal treatment course was about 9 months, it can drag on. Due to the reporting requirement, it is more likely than not that a decent hospital will be purchasing its drugs from a reputable supplier. Unfortunately, as we have seen all over the world, the production of a great many active ingredients is now centralized in India and China. For example, China is now the world's major source of aspirin. I have limited confidence in the Indian supply chain. Although most of the multinational pharmaceutical companies now have facilities in India, where India falters is in its supply chain. The oversight is not as good as it is in countries such as Japan or Germany. It is the purchasing pharmaceutical company's responsibility to test the supplied ingredients. There are now so many pieces in the production chain of drugs, in some cases 10 or more, that the possibility of substitution or screwing around is heightened. It's not just Thailand that has the problem but countries such as the USA with one of the best surveillance systems, too. The opportunities to cheat and the profit margins for the cheats are very tempting. We've just seen the tragic consequences of a compounding pharmacy in the USA that injured and killed patients receiving the drugs it prepared.

And before anyone blames big pharma, the pressure to reduce the cost of drugs comes from the purchasing blocks. For example, in canada, the provincial health ministries buy in bulk and demand low prices. The suppliers have to meet those cost targets and that means sourcing from the lowest cost suppliers. The end result has been the destruction of national drug production capabilities and a dependancy on countries like India and China to supply the drugs. If a war broke out tomorrow with China and its production chain was disrupted, millions of people in the west would find that they could not obtain their drug products in a short period of time.

In Thailand, the vigilance system just isn't there. IMO the Thai FDA is understaffed and over worked and it is impossible for the agency with its limited resources to monitor the drug supply in Thailand. It's not just a Thai problem but we see it in Australia, the UK and elsewhere. When people are caught, it is difficult to make a case and the culprits rarely do hard time. Only China imposes very harsh penalties on offenders when they are caught. However, it usually takes alot of people dying or suffering complications before that happens. As some of you may recall, the Chinese sourced ATI in a blood thinner used in the EU and USA was implicated in multiple deaths. Someone had played around with the drug.

In respect to thailand, the most likely counterfeit drugs to date have been non specialty drugs, drugs that have been on the market for years, e.g. generics and popular products such as Viagra. It is also a major issue with malaria medications. My personal feeling is that some of the HIV medications in Thailand are useless products as well. The only way of obtaining any assurance of quality is to purchase from a reputable hospital pharmacy. Unfortunately, even then one doesn't know if the pharmacists and purchasing agents have screwed around. I haven't ever heard of the FDA doing a hospital audit and actually taking large sample sizes for testing. What amazes me is that Thais still have such confidence in their medications.

Wow, I did not know how broke the pharmaceutical system was. That is truely some scary information.

just another thing to add to the list of fakes in thailand

but this one kills people all for profit

what a sick world

this is seriously criminal

i always laugh with fake bags and copied cd's.... that is just for fun

A lot of years ago when I found out the extent of the fake drugs, I stopped buying fake bags and tshirts etc. It's the same people making money from fake things whatever they are. If more people stop buying them, they will stop making them. I'm not holding my breath, but feel better about myself that I'm doing my bit.