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Millions of fake pills from China, some with no active ingredients and others with the wrong contents, have been uncovered and confiscated by customs officers in France. ... “Drug research in China has fallen under a cloud since 2006 because 13 of the top 20 global drug makers have set up research and development centers in China. Yes, it’s cheaper to do research there, but, as one auditor said, ‘with cheaper research comes greater risk,’” she wrote. ... There also are whole factories in China with up to 15,000 people employed for the purpose of counterfeiting products.

IN 2007-8, when counterfeit versions of heparin, a blood-thinning drug, were shipped from China to the United States market, 149 people died. In the last few months, bogus versions of the cancer drug Avastin, apparently shipped from the Middle East, have surfaced in clinics in California, Illinois and Texas. Thankfully, so far as we know, they haven’t killed anyone, but more and more cases of dangerous fake drugs are being reported by the Food and Drug Administration. Numerous incidents surely go unreported, the evidence swallowed, the deaths incorrectly attributed to natural causes. Fighting the fake-drug menace is like playing whack-a-mole....

See for example this thread first. A wave of drugs that are fake in the third world, which people take to treat all their ills, but these little pills might as well just be thrown in the lake!

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - A California man trafficked 5.8 million dollars in counterfeit pills made to look like the sexual enhancing drug Viagra, a court heard. ADVERTISEMENT click here Frank Fu Jen Huang, 59, was sentenced in Los Angeles to a potent 2,500 hours of community service after he pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges of conspiracy, trafficking and making fake drugs. Prosecutors said Huang and a co-defendant, David Srulevitch, began making fake Viagra in 2002 after it became too difficult to get counterfeit Viagra made in China past US Customs. After their shipments from China were intercepted by...

Bolton supporters march on City Hall12:09 PM CDT on Wednesday, September 3, 2003By SELWYN CRAWFORD / The Dallas Morning News About 200 people marched from Ferris Plaza to City Hall Wednesday morning to protest what they said was the unfair firing of former Dallas police chief Terrell Bolton. The march, organized by the Interdenominational Alliance of Metropolitan Dallas and the African-American Pastors Coalition, was larger than last week’s rally, which drew about 50 people. In that march, protesters called for the firing of City Manager Ted Benavides and the recall of Mayor Laura Miller. They also protested what they...

Bolton: Procedures for police could cost $1 million a year 03/21/2002 By ROBERT THARP / The Dallas Morning News Police Chief Terrell Bolton fielded questions for more than three hours today during his first public briefing to the City Council on a series of questionable drug investigations that have resulted in a federal probe and dozens of dismissed cases. While the chief repeatedly told council members that a pending lawsuit and on-going investigation prevented him from discussing how the faulty cases went unnoticed for more than a year, council members were told that steps taken to tighten those procedures...

Drug convict will probably be released Ties to informant trigger action in 1st case involving real narcotics 03/19/2002 By HOLLY BECKA / The Dallas Morning News A Dallas judge on Monday recommended that an appeals court give a new trial to a man who pleaded guilty last year to a drug-delivery case based partly on the word of a questionable Dallas police confidential informant. State District Judge Mark Nancarrow's order, which will probably lead to the prisoner's release, is significant because it is believed to be the first time since the drug scandal surfaced that a judge has ruled...