Another batch of counterfeit prescription drugs has been found in the United Kingdom’s pharmaceutical supply chain, highlighting a lack of security in the way drugs are traded in the European Union. The U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), in conjunction with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, has recalled batch 004405K1 of Lipitor 20 mg tablets. The cholesterol-lowering medication is used by approximately 1.5 million people in the U.K. to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease. This is not the first time counterfeit medicines have been discovered in the U.K. Two counterfeit products, purporting to be Eli Lilly’s erectile dysfunction drug Cialis and Abbott Laboratories’ anti-obesity treatment Reductil, were discovered in the supply chain in 2004.
