UN HEALTH AGENCY AIMS TO CURB SKYROCKETING SALES IN COUNTERFEIT DRUGS

Extremely lucrative and ever more attractive to criminal networks, global sales of counterfeit medicines are expected to soar to $75 billion by the end of the decade, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said today. The UN health agency will be demanding immediate action to curb the growing epidemic of illicit medicines as pharmaceutical companies, regulators, consumer groups and others gather tomorrow at a three-day meeting in Rome.

UN News Centre (http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=17504&Cr=WHO&Cr1=drugs)