Even as health regulators try to track the source of fake vials of Genentech's Avastin being distributed in the U.S., reports have emerged of other dubious drugs having found its way into the supply chain as fraudulent firms seek to profit from unauthorized versions of such costly medicines.
About a week ago, Genentech, a part of Swiss drug maker Roche Holding AG (RHHBY.PK), had warned healthcare providers and patients in the U.S. of fake vials of Avastin. Avastin is a blockbuster drug for treatment of cancers related to colon, lung, kidney and brain. In the first nine months of 2011, Avastin sales totaled about $4.3 billion.
Genentech was made aware of the problem by foreign healthcare regulators. The fake drug does not contain the key ingredient bevacizumab, and is labeled as Avastin 400 mg/16 mL with lot numbers - B86017, B6011 and B6010.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has contacted 19 medical practices that may have bought unapproved drugs, including fake Avastin, from a company called Quality Specialty Products - a foreign supply company.
According to the U.K.'s medical regulator, authorities are probing if the fake Avastin came from a distributor in Egypt. While regulators noted that the counterfeit Avastin was routed through wholesalers in Switzerland, Denmark and the U.K. before reaching the U.S., they are still unsure as to where the drug was originally produced. The U.K.'s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, or MHRA, has confirmed that CareMed, a wholesaler in Denmark, sold the fake product to River East Supplies Ltd., a U.K.-based wholesaler.
There are also reports of illegal imports of other injectable vials in the U.S. According to the Wall Street Journal, the FDA has alerted doctors about some unauthorized versions of Roche's breast cancer treatment drug Herceptin and lymphoma drug Rituxan, and Amgen's anemia drug Neupogen. The agency had also notified AstraZeneca about illegally imported cancer drugs, including Faslodex.
RHHBY.PK is trading at $43.70, down $0.27 or 0.61%.
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