Major drug thefts occurred in Italy between 2011 and 2014, with medicines entering supply chains across Europe. Photograph: Voisin/Phanie/Rex/Shutterstock

Unsafe medicines entered NHS supply chain

An internal inquiry have been launched by Medical authorities in Britain after unsafe medicines were stolen from Italian hospitals and sold to UK pharmacies and patients. The NHS supply chains was infiltrated by criminal gangs linked to mafia in 2014, which resulted in prescription medicines being imported into the UK for prostate cancer, epilepsy and schizophrenia.

According to an investigation by Channel 4 Dispatches, four types of unsafe medicine sold to pharmacies with more than 10,000 units of stolen drugs had arrived in the UK by 2014.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) did not alert the public and said that they were legitimate medicines so it is believed that the risk to public health was low. The medicines were classed as “falsified” and were not counterfeit.

However, during an investigation of the stolen medicines in 2014, the regulator found that the probe were incomplete and prompting an internal review to ensure the regulated supply chain was adequately protected. The chief executive if MHRA, Ian Hudson received the information and reports on medicines being stolen in Italy and sold to the UK, a year after the thefts occurred. In addition, MHRA have falsified the medicines from the regulated supply chain for nine times in the last decade and no evidence of the medicines made it to patients.

Norman Lamb, the former Liberal Democrat health minister led calls for a review and said the people need to be told first that they may have illegal medicines. Furthermore, he found out that there hasn’t been openness about this.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/16/unsafe-medicines-stolen-in-italy-entered-nhs-supply-chain