One in five Europeans are buying illegal drugs
Europeans spend an estimated Euro 10.5bn every year on fake medicines from illegal sources, according to a report sponsored by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
Europeans spend an estimated Euro 10.5bn every year on fake medicines from illegal sources, according to a report sponsored by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
The Cracking Counterfeit Europe research, undertaken by Nunwood on Pfizer's behalf across 14 European countries, revealed that one in five (21%) of the 14,000 people surveyed admitted to buying prescription-only drugs from an illicit supplier.
Germans (38%) and Italians (37%) buy the most prescription-only drugs without a prescription, according to the report. The UK and the Netherlands buy the least at 12% and 10% respectively.
More than a quarter (29%) of purchases are made via the Internet - even though it has been estimated that 50-90% of medicines bought from online sources are fake.
Almost half of the fake drugs bought online are weight-loss treatments (45%), followed by prescription treatments for flu (35%) and erectile dysfunction pills (25%).
According to the research, the main reasons people go online to buy medicines is to save time and money with nearly a third of those surveyed (33%) doing so because it is quick and convenient, while 39% wanted to cut down on costs.
The report follows a statement made at the end of 2009 by Gunter Verheugen, vice-president of the European Commission, that 34 million fake tablets had been seized on European borders in just two months.
Pfizer's study finds that the number of counterfeit medicines uncovered at EU borders has increased from 560,598 articles in 2005 to more than four million in 2007.
"People across Europe are risking their health and contributing to the criminal economy by accessing medicines from outside legitimate healthcare systems," said Dr David Gillen, Pfizer's medical director.
"Nearly a quarter (23%) of those surveyed don't acknowledge that taking prescription-only medicines without a prescription is a risky activity."