Recently released mid-year intellectual property rights seizure statistics reveal that the value of counterfeit pharmaceuticals seized has increased by 660 percent in the past year. While China was the source of over 80 percent of U.S. Customs and Border Protection product seizure last year, the other top 5 leading sources of seized products are Pakistan, Egypt, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
For the criminal element, “pharmaceutical counterfeiting is relatively low risk. While pharmaceutical counterfeiting is as profitable as the narcotics trade, it is considerably less dangerous and subject to lesser criminal penalties. In addition, it is a crime that is difficult to uncover, even with the most sophisticated tools.”
Re-importation proposals that further relax the safeguards that protect America’s drug supply chain will put American consumers at greater risk of exposure to counterfeit medicines.
Intellectual Property Rights, Seizure Statistics Mid-year 2007, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, published July 2007 (http://www.stopfakes.gov/pdf/CBP_Stats_Mid_year_FY07_Final.pdf)
Lybecker, Parallel Imports or Imposters: The Economics of Re-importation and Counterfeit Pharmaceuticals, Managed Care, Vil.13, No.3, March 2004.
