First Zyprexa, now fake Plavix found in UK pharmaceutical supply chain

Filed in archive Market Overview on June 2, 2007

A day after fake batches of Eli Lilly's antipsychotic Zyprexa were discovered in the supply chain, the UK's health regulator has issued a warning about counterfeits of Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb's clotbuster Plavix being smuggled into the country as parallel imports.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said that in conjunction with the European Medicines Agency, Sanofi and BMS, it is recalling "any parallel distributed stock of lots 3098 and 6Y098" of tablets branded as Plavix (clopidogrel), "following the discovery of counterfeit tablets in the legitimate supply chain". The MHRA goes on to note that, as with the counterfeit batches of Zyprexa (olanzapine), the fake Plavix "was supplied in French livery via parallel distributors into the UK supply chain".

According to Pharma Times, the agency added that "stock presenting a patient risk may be present as French livery cartons with an overlabel applied by a parallel distributor or may have been recartoned into an English carton by the parallel distribution repacking process." The aforementioned lots are genuine numbers used by Sanofi and BMS for which the original unchanged lots were supplied to France in French livery, the MHRA added, noting that the EMEA has allowed in excess of 30 UK parallel distributors to supply Plavix.

In my point of view, successful application of RFID-based solutions in the pharmaceutical supply chain by companies such as SupplyScape can be considered as a win-win opportunity both for such companies and also regulatory bodies. Anyway we have to wait and see that how pharma companies cope with such issue and what will be the role of new technologies in this case.