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Police capture fake drugs gang
By Wang Xiang |
July 12, 2010, Monday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
POLICE in central China's Wuhan City have busted a gang that produce fake drugs containing steroids and sold them online to at least 3,000 people.
Advertised as a miracle cure for rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, and high blood pressure, the drugs were made by six junior high dropouts in a filthy workshop in Wuhan, Beijing Times reported today.
The gang allegedly confessed to police that they couldn't even read the names of their products. But they called themselves the Beijing International Institute of Bone Diseases on their website and labeled their capsules Orencia, the same as an injection for rheumatoid arthritis made by BMS in the United States.
The gang had a turnover of more than one million yuan (US$147,681) according to their sales record online, the report said.
Wuhan police were tipped off about the counterfeiters in June 2009. Officers pinned down the manufacturer through the delivery company after they pretended to be patients and ordered some of the capsules.
The factory was found in an apartment, and their ingredients were a mix of a steroid hormone called prednisone and the cheapest Chinese herb on sale.
Workers used their hands to stuff the ingredients in the capsules, and nothing was sterilized, the report said.
But strangely, most of the customers told the newspaper that the drug really worked for their disease. Some customers have become regulars.
Wuhan Drugs Administration official Li Guanglong said the prednisone made the patients feel better. As an immunosuppressant, prednisone can inhibit the reaction of the immune system, thus easing their pain without actually helping.
The Chinese herbs were just there to make the capsule taste more like medicine.
Li said prednisone could be addictive for regular users. Overdose could cause high blood pressure, fragile bones, and stomach ulcers.
Guangzhou Daily reported today that most online drugstores were not licensed as the State Food and Drug Administration only permitted 12 online shops to sell medication.
Advertised as a miracle cure for rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, and high blood pressure, the drugs were made by six junior high dropouts in a filthy workshop in Wuhan, Beijing Times reported today.
The gang allegedly confessed to police that they couldn't even read the names of their products. But they called themselves the Beijing International Institute of Bone Diseases on their website and labeled their capsules Orencia, the same as an injection for rheumatoid arthritis made by BMS in the United States.
The gang had a turnover of more than one million yuan (US$147,681) according to their sales record online, the report said.
Wuhan police were tipped off about the counterfeiters in June 2009. Officers pinned down the manufacturer through the delivery company after they pretended to be patients and ordered some of the capsules.
The factory was found in an apartment, and their ingredients were a mix of a steroid hormone called prednisone and the cheapest Chinese herb on sale.
Workers used their hands to stuff the ingredients in the capsules, and nothing was sterilized, the report said.
But strangely, most of the customers told the newspaper that the drug really worked for their disease. Some customers have become regulars.
Wuhan Drugs Administration official Li Guanglong said the prednisone made the patients feel better. As an immunosuppressant, prednisone can inhibit the reaction of the immune system, thus easing their pain without actually helping.
The Chinese herbs were just there to make the capsule taste more like medicine.
Li said prednisone could be addictive for regular users. Overdose could cause high blood pressure, fragile bones, and stomach ulcers.
Guangzhou Daily reported today that most online drugstores were not licensed as the State Food and Drug Administration only permitted 12 online shops to sell medication.
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