Swissmedic Annual Report 2018

Market access | Medicinal products
57
Activities
• Another national stakeholder meeting with representatives
of other authorities (Customs, Federal Office of
Police, Cantonal Pharmacists, cantonal police forces and
public prosecutors) was held in 2018. The meeting
focused on developments and trends in information
technology. Illegal online trading and the associated use
of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin create a challenge for
Swissmedic’s market surveillance activities. Various steps
are being taken to counteract these trends, including
knowledge sharing and identifying synergies in stakeholder
meetings.
• An internal working group established that Swissmedic
needs to develop its capabilities in IT investigations.
Initial measures, regular cross-departmental internal
dialogue and meetings with the competent external
agencies started in 2018.
• The issue of illegal mail order trading within Europe was
addressed on a case-by-case basis with various foreign
authorities. This cooperation was instrumental in
breaking up the majority of mailing routes between
various European countries and Switzerland before they
could get fully established.
• In October 2018, Swissmedic took part in Pangea XI, an
international week of action against illegal therapeutic
products trading. The FCA, Swissmedic and Antidoping
Switzerland inspected over 1,000 shipments in the
Zurich-Mülligen postal sorting office. 304 packages
containing illegal medicinal products or doping agents
were confiscated.
• Once again, there was a rise in illegal imports of erectile
stimulants. Laboratory testing by Swissmedic confirmed
that as in the past, half of these preparations were
deficient and therefore represented a risk to health.
• Swiss customs offices notified Swissmedic of 758
incidents involving illegal importing of medicinal
products. In most cases, the confiscated items were
destroyed under administrative proceedings. Added to
the 2,445 packages containing erectile stimulants that
were destroyed under the simplified procedure, the total
number of cases of illegal importing came to 3,203.
• Isolated incidents of counterfeit medicinal products
being trafficked via Swiss licence holders were identified
during 2018, but none of these affected the Swiss
market. Swissmedic worked with foreign regulatory
authorities to identify the source of the counterfeit
products.
Product categories of illegal imports dealt with
under administrative proceedings:
44
39
17
101
2018
30
70
70
51
2018 2017 2016
Erectile stimulants 54 % 59 % 55 %
Sleeping tablets and
tranquillisers
Medically important,
prescription-only
medicines
10 % 12 % 13.5 %
19 % 16 % 13 %
Slimming preparations 4 % 2.5 % 5 %
Hair growth
preparations
3 % 1.5 % 2.5 %
Other 10 % 9 % 11 %
14
111
2017
2016
Illegal distribution (responsibility of Swissmedic)
Illegal retail trade (responsibility of the Cantons)
Illegal cosmetics and nutritional supplements
(responsibility of the Cantons)
Counterfeit medicinal products (notifications from abroad)
Number of evaluations of suspicious products
Other (notifications from abroad, theft abroad, etc.)
32
53
58
42
10
90
35
51