Playing the drug lottery (Image: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty)
Updated: 13 July 2010
THE perils of counterfeit drugs go way beyond being ripped off by dubious online pill-pushers. Malaria treatments containing no active ingredients, out-of-date chemotherapy drugs and diabetes medication with lethal levels of compounds that encourage insulin release have all recently been found on sale in legitimate outlets. Now the pharmaceutical industry is trying to fight back by making it easier to spot fakes.
The World Health Organization estimates that 50 per cent of all medicines sold online are worthless counterfeits. In developing nations fake pills may account for as much…
