BRITISH NATIONAL CONFERENCE

The Conference organised by the MHRA for next March 3rd, aimed at law enforcement agencies, presents to the participants an overview of investigations and tools to fight against the various types of medical products crime.

The first session highlights recent developments and contains specific cases, including those relating to the illegal trafficking of Zopiclone and Diazepam, an emerging issue that involves two “critical” active ingredients, indicated in the treatment of anxiety and depression.

Another theme element of this session highlights the activities carried out within the framework of the European project Fakeshare II, joined by the MHRA, along with other countries, and whose aim is to collect and share, through the platform hub.fakeshare.eu, data and information on pharmaceutical crime; in this context, the emerging problem of the thefts of medicines is also analysed in-depth, in response to which ad-hoc tools for the sharing of data on cases of thefts of medicines registered in the countries participating in the project have been developed.

The second session is focused on recent cases investigated by the MHRA, identified as ''Operation DANIEL", which led in 2015 to the largest seizure of unlicensed erectile dysfunction medicines ever made in the UK, followed by the presentation of a case concerning relevant critical issues found in terms of GMP non-compliance in the manufacturing process.

The event is concluded with a presentation on new scientific approaches to support enforcement activities in the pharmaceutical field.