“If I inject it to you, you die fairly quickly”: to meet researchers who track down false drugs in this French laboratory

“We must continue the fight” against falsification of drugs, a global scourge “Having become sophisticated”says Nathalie Tallet, laboratory manager, full white coat, over-chaussions and superimposed safety glasses on her corrective pair.

A recent operation against drug trafficking carried out in 90 countries has led to the arrest of nearly 800 people. However, The entry of illicit products for a value of 56 million euros, according to Interpol.

Falsified drugs. Nevertheless, whose traffic is facilitated by the explosion of electronic commerce and the multiplication of non -regulated sites, are products whose identity, composition or source is deliberately represented in a deceptive manner, according “if i inject it you, to the World Health Organization (WHO).

They can contain either the right ingredients but in an incorrect dosage. In addition, another active compound, or even no active substance. Furthermore, Or bad excipients.

It can also be real diverted drugs to be sold illegally and used as dopants or psychotropic drugs.

When a health authority asks the laboratory to investigate a suspicious product subject to a customs. Furthermore, health authorities alert then begins a work of verification on traceability.

“We will question our databases. For example, with the product name, its lot number, its date of manufacture, expiration“, Details the pharmacist at the head of a team of 12 people.

In the event “if i inject it you, of inconsistencies, the next step is to recover the samples to check the content. If the detection system confirms that the suspect product is falsified, the laboratory issues a report to the competent authorities.

Going back to the source can be difficult. the drug that can be made in one location and conditioned to another, often close to the source of sale.

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“Protect populations”

It’s necessary “Protect populations who are not lucky to have medication”says Ms. Tallet who has already testified before courts in Kenya, Jordan, in the Philippines on the danger of falsifications.

Everything reviews to detect a possible difference on the weight. the case, the serial codes, the letters, the packaging border, the printing techniques, the nature of the product, its appearance.

Other large pharmaceutical groups. such as Servier, also have their own analysis laboratory to detect false drugs and their illicit flows.

That of Sanofi receives “Between 1. 000 and 2,000 requests per year” analysis and account “Between 100 and 200 cases” Confirmed of false medicines as well as “a hundred cases of illicit traffic”.

“For a few years. Latin America and Southeast Asia have really been the two geographic regions that make us work”, Observe the number.

In 2008, the year of laboratory creation, false drugs were “much easier to detect,” she recalls. Now with technological evolution, “We can imagine everything”.

Starch. glass, metals

Supporting proof, it holds in each palm an a priori identical box of tablets comprising Chinese inscriptions on the case.

Only a machine equipped with a magnifying camera. equipped with different types of lighting and filters highlights the visual defects of the counterfeit box: the character font differs.

Liquid samples. too, are under surveillance: “If I inject it to you, you die fairly quickly”, warns another collaborator, placing a bottle under a microscope at great depth of field.

This specimen is part of a dozen counterfeit therapeutic bottles in a foreign country. intercepted in time, a few years ago.

An inexpensive starch derivative replaces the active ingredient while the legitimate bottle is worth “Several thousand euros” To treat. rare diseases.

However. the cause of the danger lies elsewhere: in the solution floats a plankton of particles of “glass”of “scrap”, “Fibers that can cause embolism”.

Other old cases have revealed The presence of detergents in pediatric vaccines in Indonesia Or an antibiotic in an anti-cancer. microbial contaminations, keeps Ms. Tallet in mind.

“It’s not just customs that come back to us. There may also be patients. health professionals who observe quirks on the product, the sale price or side effects”, she said.