Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Interpol seized more than $6.65 million of counterfeit drugs against malaria, HIV and tuberculosis in Southeast Asia and made 27 arrests.
The haul, part of the five-month Operation Storm across Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, involved almost 200 raids, Aline Plancon, an officer involved in the action, said today by e-mail from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Global sales of fake drugs may reach $75 billion in 2010, an increase of more than 90 percent from 2005, the Geneva-based World Health Organization said on its Web site, citing the New York-based Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.
Under Operation Storm, which ran from April 15 to Sept. 15, police seized more than 16 million pills, including fake antibiotics for pneumonia and child-related illnesses, Plancon said.
Counterfeits account for as much as 30 percent of all drugs in developing nations and less than 1 percent of all drugs in developed nations such as the U.S., according to the WHO.
About 40 percent of 1,047 counterfeit drug-related arrests worldwide last year were made in Asia, according to the Washington-based Pharmaceutical Security Institute.
To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at
sbennett9@bloomberg.net.
The haul, part of the five-month Operation Storm across Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, involved almost 200 raids, Aline Plancon, an officer involved in the action, said today by e-mail from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Global sales of fake drugs may reach $75 billion in 2010, an increase of more than 90 percent from 2005, the Geneva-based World Health Organization said on its Web site, citing the New York-based Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.
Under Operation Storm, which ran from April 15 to Sept. 15, police seized more than 16 million pills, including fake antibiotics for pneumonia and child-related illnesses, Plancon said.
Counterfeits account for as much as 30 percent of all drugs in developing nations and less than 1 percent of all drugs in developed nations such as the U.S., according to the WHO.
About 40 percent of 1,047 counterfeit drug-related arrests worldwide last year were made in Asia, according to the Washington-based Pharmaceutical Security Institute.
To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at
sbennett9@bloomberg.net.
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