Prosecutors charge 15 in Vietnamese fake drug ring

Charges have been filed against 15 people in Vietnam accused of counterfeiting a range of pharmaceuticals, including brands owned by Johnson & Johnson and Novartis.

The indictments come on the back of a long-running police investigation into the activities of Vietnam-France Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company, which owns a number of drug stores across Vietnam's capital Ho Chi Minh City.

Most of the people indicted were arrested last year during raids on the firm's premises, while company director Huynh Ngoc Quang was taken into custody earlier this year after a manhunt, (see Counterfeit clippings; March 24).

Alleged counterfeits made by the company include fake versions of J&J's Sibelium (flunarizine) for high blood pressure and antinausea drug Motilium-M (domperidone), Novartis painkiller Voltaren (diclofenac) and Beaufour-Ipsen's herbal remedy Tanakan. Meanwhile, it also stands accused of selling unlicensed products, including various vitamin supplements, under fictitious brand names.

The illegal products were sold within Vietnam and over the border in neighbouring Cambodia, according to local press reports.

In May 2010, a court in Vietnam imposed sentences totalling 21 years on six people convicted of making and selling fake medicines, with ringleader Mai Cong Phu sentenced to five years in jail, the maximum possible sentence under Vietnamese law.