Drug Running: Bust nets suspects in counterfeit antimalaria trade
By Nathan Seppa
Over the past decade, researchers have documented the sale of fake antimalaria tablets in Southeast Asia. A new report traces the source of some of these drugs to southern China, and police there have located an illicit drug “factory” and arrested multiple suspects accused of trafficking the pills. Authorities in Burma (Myanmar) have also nabbed two suspects.
The busts mark the first time that the World Health Organization (WHO) has teamed with Interpol and physicians, pharmacists, and scientists working in Southeast Asia to analyze and track packages of anti-malaria pills. The investigators found that many fake tablets, which have been linked to deaths, were visual mimics of legitimate pills made and packaged by the Chinese company Guilin Pharmaceutical. In 2006, the investigators informed the Chinese government.