Counterfeit drug production and trading activities have become more and more complicated and serious. In 2005 and 2006, functional agencies discovered 15 cases of producing and trafficking counterfeit drugs and destroyed millions of doses of counterfeit drugs and quintals of counterfeit brands of world-famous medicine.

Dr. Cao Minh Quang, Director of the Vietnam Pharmacy Management Department, said most fake drugs imported from foreign countries are of special types and very expensive. Fake drugs often lack or do not have enough active elements. Counterfeiters use high technologies to make counterfeit drugs of different brands, therefore it is very difficult for consumers and drug control authorities to recognize. Unfortunately, patients taking fake drugs cam suffer bad consequences, such as long treatment times, side-effect, and even death.

According to recent statistics by the Vietnam Pharmacy Management Department, the largest number of fake drug cases was reported in Hanoi. Recently, Hanoi police has discovered a ring illegally producing and trading large volumes of counterfeit drugs, headed by Quach Thi Lanh, director of Anh Ngoc Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd in Hanoi’s Cau Giay district. Investigation agencies seized 300,000 medicine units and 345kg of labels and covers and many equipment used in producing fake drugs. Quach Thi Lanh and her accomplices admitted that they bought Postinor 2 contraceptive drug via bordergates and transported it to Hanoi. They hired a limited company to make fake labels and covers of the drug and then sold the counterfeit drugs in many provinces and cities, including Hanoi, Hai Phong, Ha Nam, Nam Dinh, Ha Tay and Ho Chi Minh City.

These criminals capitalized on the shortage of drugs and the high consumption power on the market to produce counterfeit drugs in the country or buy fake products from foreign markets. For expensive drugs that require high technology, such as Clamoxil, Postinor 2, Viagra and Cialis, they are often purchased in foreign markets and smuggled into Vietnam. For fake drugs produced in the domestic market, they often bear the labels of expensive products. For example, to purchase the fake Acetaphen from Thailand, they ordered a pharmaceutical company to distill water in the same color of the Acetaphen solution and then stick the original label on the fake product.

To strictly deal with counterfeit drug production and consumption, police, customs and functional agencies have to closely cooperate with each other. Only by taking tough measures can they win the battle and make patients feel safe in the knowledge that they will no longer “spend money and get worse”. As a result, foreign pharmaceutical firms will invest more in Vietnam, especially after the country has become a full member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).