PANGEA X : 10 years of international action against illicit online medicine trade

- In January 2017, Google [[2]](https://blog.google/topics/ads/how-we-fought-bad-ads-sites-and-scammers-2016/)blocked almost 6 times more illegal health product ads in 2016 than in 2015. - At the same time in France, scores of French websites were hacked [[3]](http://www.zataz.com/piratage-viagra-pas-cher/#axzz4VwTZupVC)by illegal online pharmacies. This is known as “Black SEO” (Search Engine Optimization). The websites’ homepages were hacked with adverts for cost-cutting erectile products. The list of the sites pirated by illegal e-pharmacies is long and includes: the French handball federation, Rhône tourist office, Rennes archives, Beauvais hospital, IRACM, the Salvation Army and the Vulcania website, etc. - In May, an Irish [[4]](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4558296/Mother-shares-photo-son-hospital-bed.html)mother posted a photograph of her son lying in a hospital bed on her Facebook page. The 22-year-old man was admitted to the critical care unit in hospital after taking Xanax which he had purchased online to help him overcome a breakup. - In September, a British [[5]](https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/641461/Shareandsharealike_report.pdf)Intellectual Property Office report revealed that 17.5% of online transactions are for falsified products and 88% of said transactions were by consumers who wittingly choose to buy counterfeit products. The report found that Facebook is the riskiest social media as suspicious activities are more widespread in closed groups.

[[5]](#ftnref4) https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/641461/Shareandsharealikereport.pdf

In September 2017, Interpol revealed the results of the tenth international PANGEA operation against illegal trade in online medicines and medical devices. Media across the globe reported that a record-breaking 25 million illicit and potentially dangerous medicines had been seized in the 123 participating countries during the operation’s 2017 edition.

2017 was a record-breaking year with a total of $50m worth of seized goods, 400 arrests, 1,058 investigations and more than 3,500 illegal internet sites closed on an international level! As Interpol points out, the astounding figures reveal “a steady growth in the number of unlicensed, unregulated, online pharmacies”. Moreover, the extremely alarming figures are the result of only one week of international action and are a snapshot of a given moment in time, leading us to fear the worst.

Key international figures:
• France: more than 433,000 illicit health products and 1.4 tons of bulk health products were seized. A total of 185 illegal websites selling falsified medicines were identified during the operation. More than 70 of seized products come from Asia (mainly India and Singapore).
• United States: 500 websites illegally selling potentially dangerous and unapproved medicines were suspended.
• Ireland: 200,000 illicit medicines seized, 38 illegal websites suspended.
• and Spain: 4m illicit units seized.

In 10 years of action, seized medicine hauls have increased from tens of thousands to tens of millions. Even if some of these results are due to increasingly improved and widespread national anti-falsified medicine actions from each participating country, the truth is that online health-product trafficking is rocketing to uncontrollable levels.

At the beginning of October, Newphram[1] carried out a study of the most frequently researched online medicines by French people. The study revealed that amoxicillin, an antibiotic prescribed for many bacterial infections, is at the top of the list, followed by tramadol, a potent painkiller. Ibuprofen ranks fourth place after painkillers and vitamin B9. There were more than 659.520 searches for anti-anxiety medicines, sleeping tablets

and antipsychotics since the beginning of this year. Even if this investigation may not be taken literally, it confirms PANGEA X’s results.

Amongst the 25 million illicit medicines seized during the action week were dietary supplements, painkillers, epilepsy medication, erectile dysfunction pills, anti-psychotic medication, nutritional products and illicit medical devices such as dental devices and implants, syringes and condoms, etc. The days when officials only intercepted falsified Viagra and anabolic steroids are over.

Even though global awareness campaigns against online purchases are multiplying, certification logos are used to demonstrate e-pharmacy reliability and reassure consumers and health professionals are increasingly informing patients, online medicine purchases are incessantly growing and this is reflected in the media:

• In January 2017, Google[2] blocked almost 6 times more illegal health product ads in 2016 than in 2015.
• At the same time in France, scores of French websites were hacked[3] by illegal online pharmacies. This is known as “Black SEO” (Search Engine Optimization). The websites’ homepages were hacked with adverts for cost-cutting erectile products. The list of the sites pirated by illegal e-pharmacies is long and includes: the French handball federation, Rhône tourist office, Rennes archives, Beauvais hospital, IRACM, the Salvation Army and the Vulcania website, etc.
• In May, an Irish[4] mother posted a photograph of her son lying in a hospital bed on her Facebook page. The 22-year-old man was admitted to the critical care unit in hospital after taking Xanax which he had purchased online to help him overcome a breakup.
• In September, a British[5] Intellectual Property Office report revealed that 17.5% of online transactions are for falsified products and 88% of said transactions were by consumers who wittingly choose to buy counterfeit products. The report found that Facebook is the riskiest social media as suspicious activities are more widespread in closed groups.

Clearly, we should all be delighted with PANGEA X’s results, given the number of dangerous products which have been removed from the market. But the question must be asked as to how and when this will stop; internet is obviously the perfect breeding ground for this budding business.

[1] https://sixactualites.fr/medicaments/voici-medicaments-plus-recherches-web/38911/
[2] https://blog.google/topics/ads/how-we-fought-bad-ads-sites-and-scammers-2016/
[3] http://www.zataz.com/piratage-viagra-pas-cher/#axzz4VwTZupVC
[4] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4558296/Mother-shares-photo-son-hospital-bed.html
[5] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/641461/Share_and_share_alike_report.pdf

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