Five men accused of a multi-million pound pharmaceutical plot involving bogus Chinese-manufactured life-saving drugs - Europe's biggest ever - were simply motivated by "pure greed" a jury were told yesterday.
Medicine watchdogs ordered a Class One recall of all suspected drugs - taken by heart and cancer patients and the mentally ill - resulting in shelves cleared in pharmacies all over the country.
"They were prepared to make profits by feeding duff drugs to people with serious illnesses, prostrate cancer, heart disease and psychiatric issues," prosecutor Mr. Andrew Marshall told Croydon Crown Court.
Charges were brought following a two-year investigation by the Medicines and Health Care products Regulatory Agency, part of the Department of Health into Consolidated Medical Supplies Ltd.
The company, of Unit 14, Sherrington Way, Lister Road, Industrial Estate, Basingstoke, had its Wholesale Dealers Licence revoked by the MHRA on January 8, 2008.
"This is considered the most serious breach of medicine control, the importation of counterfeit medicines into the system," explained Mr. Marshall.
"The most serious in the European Union, with far-reaching effects for pharmaceutical companies, patients and the confidence of the general public.
"The purpose is just greed. To obtain the profits of buying illegal goods cheaply."
The charges relate to 'Casodex',(pic.top) used to treat advanced prostate cancer, 'Plavix',(pic.mid) a drug prescribed to prevent blood clots and prevent heart attacks for angina patients and 'Zyprexa'(pic.bottom) a anti-psychotic drug prescribed to schizophrenic and bipolar patients.
The five defendants are: Ian Gillespie, 58, of The Green, Marsh Baldon, Oxford; Peter Gillespie, 64, of High Street, Bovingdon, Hemel Hempstead; Ian Harding, 58, of Lower Westwood, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire; James Quinn, 69, of Holloway Drive, Virginia Water, Surrey and Richard Kemp, 61, of School Lane, Y Waen, Flint Mountain, Clwyd.
All five have pleaded not guilty that between January 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007, they conspired together and with others to defraud pharmaceutical wholesalers, pharmacists, the public and holders of Intellectual Property Rights in pharmaceuticals by dishonestly distributing for gain counterfeit medicines.
They also deny two counts each of selling or supplying the three drugs without authorisation and selling or supplying counterfeit goods, namely the three medicines, between January 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007.
Peter Gillespie alone denies one count of breaching a company director disqualification order between July, 2005 and June, 2007, following his bankruptcy.
"They are just importing danger," added Mr. Marshall. "The drugs imported are not extensively and expensively tested, but instead have been smuggled into the EU and distributed regardless of their chemical qualities."
The drugs were manufactured by the notorious Chinese pharmaceutical counterfeiter Lu Xu aka Kevin Xu, currently serving a prison sentence for a similar scam in the United States.
His bogus drugs were imported via Singapore and Belgium before being ferried and driven into the U.K and distributed by the five defendants.
"It is not just about pharmaceutical companies, but real people exposed to these drugs and their rights not to have their health interfered with," explained Mr. Marshall.
"The public have been defrauded, the system has been compromised and patients put at risk.
"No-one pretended these were cheap counterfeits, they were pretended to be real. These men are not a charity importing cheaper drugs, it is I am afraid, pure greed in order to make money, working totally outside the system.
"They are all medicines for which there is high demand and are quite expensive. All are prescription-only medicines for serious illnesses."
If the 145,000 Zyprexa patients in the U.K. bought only one 28-tablet pack per year they would pay a total of £13.8 million.
"It is the illegal importation and distribution of counterfeit medicines and the placing of them in the legitimate supply chain with the intention to shove out legitimate products," added Mr. Marshall.
The bogus drugs originally purported to be destined for the French market, but by 'parallel trading' they were altered for the U.K.
"A factory was set up to do this with expensive machinery," said the prosecutor. "They tried to get them into our system and used the fact they were French as a disguise to introduce counterfeits.
"These were lifesaving medicines designed to save the lives and help the health of patients.
"They managed to get quite a lot of medicines into the legitimate supply system before they were shut down and some made their way to patients."
The trial is expected to last four months.
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