JULY 22, 2022WASHINGTON, DCINTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS AND COMMERCIAL FRAUD

IPR Center helps seize $11M in illicit medicines in global Interpol operation

From fake COVID-19 tests to hazardous erectile dysfunction tablets,
the 94-country operation targeted illicit pharmaceuticals,
medical devices traded online


WASHINGTON

Pharmaceutical crime is a major global public health concern, with the trade of counterfeit
and illicit health products affecting all countries through source, transit, or destination points.
Patients around the world put their health and even their lives at risk by unknowingly consuming
fake and unregulated medical products, or products that have been altered, diverted, badly
stored or have passed their expiration date. For the 14th year in a row, the National Intellectual
Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) joined 94 Interpol member countries in a
coordinated crackdown on illicit online pharmacies dubbed “Operation Pangea XV,” June 23-30.
The operation netted more than 7,800 seizures of illicit and falsified medicines, totaling more
than three million individual units at $11 million.


“Two decades worth of experience has shown criminals will stop
at nothing to make a profit, including selling counterfeit pharmaceuticals
and medical devices despite dangers they cause,” said Jim Mancuso,
IPR Center director. “The United States is committed to working
closely with our international law enforcement partners and the
private sector to keep counterfeit pharmaceuticals and medical
devices out of the global supply chain, as well as taking down
transnational criminal organizations who profit from these scams.
The results of Operation Pangea XV are a warning to transnational
criminal organizations that law enforcement agencies around the
world will do whatever it takes to protect public health and safety.”


“Dealing counterfeit or illicit medicines online may seem like a low-level offence, but the
consequences for victims are potentially life-threatening,”
said Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock.
“The illicit supply chains and business models behind the trade in counterfeit medicines are
inherently international, meaning that law enforcement has to work together across borders
in order to effectively protect consumers.”

Every day, advertisements for medicines invade the Internet, posted on social media networks or
other websites. Behind this marketing, however, often lies fraudulent products that damage
consumers’ health instead of healing them.

The global trade in illicit pharmaceuticals was valued at $4.4 billion in 2016 – and attracts the
involvement or organized crime groups around the world.


During the weeklong operation, law enforcement:




While results are still incoming, enforcement actions have already disrupted the activities of at
least 36 organized crime groups.



Cross-border crimes

Nearly half (48 percent) of the packages inspected by law enforcement during the operation
were found to contain either illicit or falsified medicines.

Fake or unauthorized erectile dysfunction medicines comprised at least 40 percent of all
products seized. Law enforcement in Australia, Argentina, Malaysia, and the United States
also seized more than 317,000 unauthorized COVID-19 test kits. The U.S. seizures alone
are estimated to be worth nearly $3 million.

The trade in illicit medicines extends far beyond any one country’s borders. Often, products
are manufactured in one country and shipped to another, while advertisements for the
medicines are hosted on websites based in other countries altogether.

In Malaysia alone, law enforcement identified more than 2,000 websites selling or advertising
false or restricted pharmaceuticals.

Social media networks and messaging apps are also used to advertise counterfeit or illicit
medicines, with Operation Pangea XV identifying more than 1,200 such ads across all major
platforms.

Within the framework of Operation Pangea XV, Interpol was able to count on the support of
Europol, the World Customs Organization, the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime’s Container Control Programme, health regulatory agencies and the
Pharmaceutical Security Institute.

Interpol’s Illicit Goods and Global Health Programme works to dismantle criminal networks
and reduce the risk fake and illicit pharmaceuticals pose to public health.

Since 2008, Operation Pangea has been combating the global trafficking of counterfeit
pharmaceuticals and illicit health products marketed and sold online. Pangea also aims to
raise public awareness of the risks associated with buying medicines from unregulated websites.



About the IPR Center

For more than two decades, the IPR Center, working collaboratively with its public-private sector
partners, has led the effort in the government's response to combat global intellectual property
theft and enforce intellectual property rights violations. The center was established to combat global
intellectual property theft – and, accordingly, has a significant role policing the sale and distribution
of counterfeit goods on websites, social media, and the dark web.









In other headlines:::


July 25, 2022: Pangea XV Takes $11 Million In Fake Drugs Out Of Circulation.

94 countries seized 3 million doses of unauthorized and fake medicines—including hundreds of thousands
of COVID test kits—during Interpol’s weeklong Operation Pangea. The Mesa County, Colorado Sheriff reported
finding a different dangerous synthetic opioid in fake oxycodone pills. The news covered an additional 22
counterfeit pill incidents in a dozen states.




Read the full story here:::

>https://www.safemedicines.org/2022/07/july-25-2022.html