Doctors recommend it to cancer patients.
From overseas purchasing to illegal production and sales, the people involved in the case sold dozens of anti-cancer drugs to 30 provinces across the country through doctor matchmaking for a year and a half, with the amount involved exceeding 10 million yuan. . It has been identified by authoritative organizations that these anti-cancer drugs are all fake, and some do not contain active ingredients at all.
This extremely large case of producing and selling counterfeit drugs that was recently concluded by the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court revealed the flaws in my country’s drug supervision field. Relevant departments urgently need to review the entire process from the procurement source to the sales terminal. Strengthen supervision.
The maximum profit for a box of medicines is tens of thousands of yuan, and some medicines do not contain active ingredients
After receiving complaints in March 2016, the Shenzhen police investigated the A large number of unsold counterfeit drugs and criminal tools were seized from the personnel's homes and warehouses, and eight suspects including Chen Zhonghua, Liang Deyi, Peng Jingjing, and Ji Weiwei were arrested.
Ji Weiwei, the main person in charge of the criminal gang, registered companies in Hong Kong and the Mainland respectively, and first purchased anti-cancer drugs from overseas suppliers. Later, I saw that the market for targeted drugs in the treatment of tumors was relatively good, so I organized people to make homemade capsules and steal well-known domestic and foreign anti-cancer drug brands for sale.
"The medicinal powder was brought from Hong Kong. I don't know what its ingredients are. Chen Zhonghua said it is for treating lung diseases. There are also medicines for treating leukemia. The labels are all in foreign languages. I can't understand them. They are in white. Delivered in plastic boxes." Liang Deyi said that they canned the medicine themselves and the process is very simple. There is no refrigeration in the whole process.
Between September 2014 and March 2016, the persons involved sold more than 30 types of fake anti-cancer drugs.
The sales price of these counterfeit medicines is basically more than twice the purchase price, with a maximum profit of 10,000 yuan per box. For example, the purchase price of "Gleevec" is 500 yuan/box, and the sales price is about 1,500 yuan; the purchase price of "Rituximab" is 7,500 yuan/box, and the selling price is 15,000-17,500 yuan.
After inspection and identification by the China Institute of Food and Drug Control and the Shenzhen Municipal Market Inspection Bureau, some of the anti-cancer drugs and anti-tumor drugs involved in the case did not contain active ingredients, and some were unapproved. Not only are these drugs not beneficial to cancer patients, they can also delay their progress. Some victims reported adverse reactions such as dizziness, vomiting, and weakness in the limbs after taking it.
Doctors made the matchmaking, and the express delivery was smooth
Those involved mainly asked doctors to make matchmaking recommendations to cancer patients and their families, and then delivered them by express delivery.
“We went to many places, basically all the top three hospitals. In each hospital we went to the doctor’s office and the ward, and the departments we chose were oncology and hematology.” Liang Deyi He said that when they were selling, they brought a quotation list with more than 70 kinds of drugs, all of which were drugs for tumors and blood diseases. Many of the drugs had never been seen in China.
Ji Weiwei said that medicines are mainly sold through online sales and express delivery. "Online sales have customers in all provinces except Tibet. The doctors who help me introduce the business usually share 10% of the drug sales and transfer the money through the account they provide. There are many hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai, Hunan and other places."
“The company’s average daily shipment volume is about 30 orders, which are sold to all parts of the country by express delivery, and basically flow into the hands of hospitals, clinics and individuals.” Peng Jingjing, the person involved in the case who is responsible for customer service, said that they mainly use Contact customers or suppliers by phone, WeChat, SMS, or QQ.
Purchasing agents are “growing wildly” and supervision is in urgent need of “sharp swords”
After hearing, the court found that the total amount of unsold drugs seized in this case was 4,332,159 yuan, and the drugs that had been sold The total amount is RMB 5,931,593. At present, the eight defendants involved in the case have been sentenced by the court to 3 to 13 years in prison for producing and selling counterfeit drugs, and fined ranging from 20,000 yuan to 15 million yuan. Among them, Ji Weiwei was sentenced to 13 years in prison and fined 15 million yuan.
my country's Drug Administration Law strictly stipulates that opening a drug retail enterprise must obtain a "Pharmaceutical Business License", and drug imports must be reviewed and confirmed to meet quality standards, safe and effective before approval for import, and an imported drug registration certificate will be issued. Certificate.
Lu Shengzhu, a lawyer at Guangdong Rongfang Law Firm, pointed out that in this case, the criminal gang secretly purchased or produced anti-cancer drugs without relevant documents. Although they were severely punished by law, it exposed the regulatory loopholes in my country's pharmaceutical industry.
“Most of the current anti-cancer drugs are patented drugs monopolized by foreign capital. Due to their high cost and small audience, the proportion of such drugs imported by hospitals is strictly controlled, and pharmacies do not have large inventories, resulting in rapid overseas purchasing. With the development, more and more merchants are joining the ranks of drug purchasing agents," said Li Weihao, a medical oncologist at Shenzhen People's Hospital. While overseas purchasing agents are growing wildly, the Internet and express delivery have become the main selling points for counterfeit drugs due to their unique convenience and concealment. main position.
The act of purchasing drugs overseas falls into the gray area of ??legal supervision. Buying drugs directly from overseas without formal inspection by relevant domestic institutions is a typical "three-no product" and is prohibited from sale in our country. . This method of using professional medical personnel to recommend medicines, relying on non-professional doctors to help patients place orders and buy medicines based on the buyer's description of symptoms poses a threat to the patient's health and life safety.
Hu Yimin believes that for overseas drug purchasing, law enforcement agencies must strengthen auditing and supervision at the source, and intensify inspections of drug-related licensing units; in addition, they must innovate supervision methods and methods, relying on High technology strengthens the screening and filtration of online chat software, real-time communication tools, logistics express delivery, bank accounts and other sales channels, and eliminates blind spots in law enforcement by industrial and commercial, public security and other departments.