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This is scary!! If this happens in Japan, could it happen in Canada or the USA?
Counterfeits of the hepatitis C drug Harvoni have been found at a drugstore chain in Nara Prefecture, the health ministry said Tuesday.
Harvoni is sold by a Japanese unit of U.S. pharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences Inc. The ingredients of the counterfeits are now under examination.
The ministry and Gilead are calling on patients, doctors and pharmacists to beware of the counterfeits.
According to Gilead, there has been no report of health damage linked to the use of the counterfeits.
A total of five Harvoni bottles containing pills different from those of the drug, which are orange and diamond-shaped, were found at three outlets of the chain and its headquarters.
Some of the bottles were filled with pills different from Harvoni pills, and the others contained a mix of similar and different ones.
The fake bottles were received through an unofficial route, Gilead said.
The counterfeits came to light when a patient who saw that the pills he bought were of different shapes informed the drugstore that prescribed them to the patient.
According to the ministry, sales of Harvoni were launched in Japan in September 2015. A pill costs some ¥55,000.
Some 76,000 people had taken the drug as of December, the ministry said.