Commentary: Counterfeit Avastin is a great potential harm to patients who need their medications for their diseases. Lack of therapeutic ingredient will worsen patients’ health conditions. In the ophthalmology world, unnecessary delay of treatment and unnecessary exposure to risk of infection/endophthalmitis, this is unacceptable and immoral. Subcontracting may reduce the production cost and increase the profit; the chain of command from manufacturing to delivery system needs to be legally bound regardless of the so-called subcontracting. Public health and safety demands real accountability?
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Authorities are investigating whether counterfeit packs of the cancer drug Avastin found on the U.S. market came from an Egyptian supplier, according to the U.K.’s medical regulator, amid a global effort to track the origins of the fake product that has spooked cancer doctors and patients.
the right is the fake Avastin
One of the European wholesalers involved in trading the fake product, meanwhile, said it had been unaware that the drug wasn’t real, and added that it was beefing up its system for checking the quality of the medicines it trades.
The wholesaler, Denmark’s CareMed ApS, said it was making the changes on the orders of Denmark’s medical regulator. CareMed added that it has heard reports that the fake medicine might have originated in Egypt or Turkey.
Avastin’s maker, Roche Holding AG, said this week it had warned doctors, hospitals and patient groups that a counterfeit version of the medicine has been found in the U.S. It isn’t clear how much of the counterfeit product was distributed in the U.S. or whether it has caused any harm. Roche’s U.S. unit, Genentech, says it doesn’t know whether any patients were given the fake drug. Continue reading
