Neither has happened.However, John Theriault, a former FBI executive who now runs Pfizer’s global security operation, said the evidence of the impact of eastern European drugs fraud was already compelling.”We’ve uncovered counterfeit pharmaceuticals in these countries and identified manufacturing operations in some of these countries,” he said. “I would agree completely that the accession countries are going to contribute to the problem.”. Its spokesman said there were immense fears that the collapse of the Soviet Union would see violent Russian mafia dominating organised crime in Europe, and that Albanian gangs threatened the UK. The fact that they are coming into this country is a reality,” he said.Experts claim the MHRA’s investigators privately admit that with extra resources, even more illegal internet operations would be closed down. However, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, which polices Britain’s chemists, continues to insist the problem in the UK is minimal and under control.The National Criminal Intelligence Service is also cautious about the risks of a surge in drugs fraud. Its enforcement group gets some 10 to 15 complaints about dubious websites each month.Although most are foreign-run, it has closed down seven internet operations and forced seven other sites to stop making illegal claims.

Three website operators have been convicted for breaching the UK’s strict rules on selling prescription medicines.Yet Peter Lowe, a fraud expert at the Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau, said the agency is only scraping the surface of the problem. “What the internet has done is enable counterfeiters to flog their products in high-value markets. Email security company Clearswift says Viagra and diet pill offers on the internet totalled 40 per cent of the spam sent to British email users last month.In Britain, the government Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), now seizes about £3.2m-worth of illegally sold or fake Viagra a year. Much of it comes from China and south Asia.The internet offers drug peddlers the most valuable tool they have ever seen.

Genuine Viagra costs at least £7.65 per 100mg pill; many modern obesity “cures” can cost £1.65 per pill, and human growth hormones cost £900 per course. Their availability is tightly controlled by EU regulations, so fraudsters see these high prices as a great opportunity – selling cheaply made, adulterated, faked or placebo drugs can lead to swift, easy profits.Pfizer, one of the few major pharmaceutical firms that will openly discuss the trade, now routinely finds fake Viagra in Poland, Russia and Bulgaria, where it has helped to close down three counterfeiting factories. Similar problems have already been seen in Africa and Asia, where up to 25 per cent of drugs sold are fake or substandard. The EU’s historically strict regulations would quickly be undermined by far laxer controls in new member states.