The theft of medicines is a profitable pursuit. Investigations proved in recent years how valuable medicines (for example, anti-cancer meds) are stolen and shipped outside the EU, to be resold in other countries, including returning to European countries.
The MEDI-THEFT project, presented by Domenico Di Giorgio, AIFA director (Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco, the Italian Medicine Agency), was featured in the latest monthly issue of AboutPharma magazine – an Italian monthly magazine which talks about politics, economy, business, science and research in the field of life sciences, focusing on regulatory and legal topics.
In the article “DAGLI OSPEDALI ITALIANI AI RICETTATORI EGIZIANI: LA ROTTA DEI FARMACI RUBATI” (“From Italian hospitals to Egyptian dealers: the route of stolen medicines”), Dr. Di Giorgio preliminarily explained how Fakeshare Project, the first online Italian platform to gather data on stolen medicine goods, was a great success in countering the illegal market of medicines. However, Fakeshare was just the first step of the path led by AIFA in countering the theft of medicines at EU level and, that experience brought to the creation of the MEDI-THEFT project, coordinated by AIFA with the support of Fondazione SAFE, Transcrime (Università Cattolica), Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, Affordable Medicines Europe, Carabinieri and the regulatory agencies of Serbia and Montenegro.
“MEDI-THEFT is part of a series of activities that AIFA, along with other qualified partners, has been conducting for years – and proves that by developing a system we can both contain the phenomenon, and export national best practices” claimed Dr. Di Giorgio.
After the success with Fakeshare, MEDI-THEFT aims at expanding its sphere of influence to the Member States of the Council of Europe. Spreading awareness on illicit medicine trafficking and supplying them with a useful online platform will help the fight against these types of crimes.