A criminal group in Romania used low prices to sell counterfeit cancer drugs on big markets in the European Union. The group imported the drugs from Turkey, Cyprus and Greece to Romania and then sold them on the local market, and in Germany, Denmark and Great Britain, for a third of their market price, according to police sources quoted by Mediafax.

The group were selling drugs labelled as Sutent, Velcade, Pegasys and Hereceptin, all used in cancer treatment. These were not harmful, but only contained very small doses of the active substance, and were ineffective. The market price for such a drug goes up to as much as EUR 5,000 in Romania, and even more on Western markets.

The Romanian police on Wednesday, January 28, raided 64 homes and company headquarters in an investigation targeting this crime group. They also investigate the group for tax evasion and money laundering. Members of the crime ring are believed to have withdrawn EUR 5 million from several pharmaceutical distribution companies. The damage to the state budget was of some EUR 3 million.

editor@romania-insider.com