Swiss authorities seized more than 1 million fake Xanax, an anti-anxiety pills made and distributed by Pfizer Inc., at the Zurich airport. The move is part of the authority’s strengthened operations to crackdown on the life-threatening fake medicines.
Four crates weighing over 880 pounds or 400 kilograms and said to be in transit from China to Egypt were intercepted and ordered to be destroyed. After conducting a test, it was found that the pills being carried by the crates didn’t have active ingredients. The report was made by the Bern-headquartered drug regulator Swissmedic.
Governments have been striving to protect the distribution of authentic drugs and have been doing stricter measures to crack down those products that are deemed as counterfeit. Every year, systematic screening of medical shipments is carried out and has since resulted to a decline in the import of fake drugs in Switzerland, according to Swissmedic in its report made in June.
“I’m angry,” Erik Gordon, a professor of law and business at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, wrote in e-mailed comments to Bloomberg. “When criminals counterfeit Hermes scarves, money is stolen. When they counterfeit pills, they kill people.”
Every year, over 100,000 people from each corner of the globe could die from taking substandard and fake medicines. The number estimate was made by associate professor Amir Attaran and economist Roger Bate from University of Ottawa and American Enterprise Institute respectively.
Swissmedic, officially called as Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products, said that at first glance, the Xanax pills didn’t look like they were a fake. They have already informed the authorities abroad of their discovery, particularly those in Egypt and China.
The Swiss regulator added that as of June, they have already seized around 90 shipments this year. Likewise, it has ordered some Internet websites to be shut down after being found guilty of trading medicines illegally.
