It is extremely difficult to prove counterfeit medicines in Ukraine – attorney-at-law

In late 2021, the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) of Ukraine, based on the information from the operation units of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, initiated a criminal proceeding on manufacturing and illegal trafficking of counterfeit medicines for oncological diseases, hepatitis, HIV etc. According to the prosecution, the criminal group manufacturing and distributing counterfeit medicines was organized by citizens of Ukraine, against whom an indictment has been submitted to the court. The criminal group also included citizens of Russian Federation, Republic of India, Azerbaijan, Republic of Turkey and others. Their identities and role are currently being established during the investigation. 

The pretrial investigation found that the annual manufacturing scale of some medicines ranged from 500 to 3,000 packages worth from $250 to $5,000 per package. The main channels for the sale of counterfeit medicines were advertisements on the Internet. Moreover, the medicines were sold directly to patients through doctors, and the role of doctors is now being investigated.

The Ukrainian PGO Information Policy Department told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency that the investigation was initiated by two pharmaceutical companies – manufacturers of innovative medicines which discovered trafficking of counterfeit as authorized and unauthorized medicines in Ukraine.

According to the information, some of counterfeit medicines were sold through doctors who prescribed unauthorized or expensive medicines and offered patients to purchase them through illegal trafficking channels. However, doctors were not always aware that they were dealing with counterfeits.

Similarly, "grey import" to Ukraine was also conducted without