To ascertain the extent of counterfeit drugs produced in the country, the government is working on launching a pan-India survey beginning December 1, 2007. The move would help the health ministry to collect an authentic data on the problem of fake medicines before taking action against the culprits.

The ministry plans to take help of over 500 volunteers (preferably pharmacy graduates) and social help groups to lift samples at taluka level. Officials aim at collecting 3-4 lakh sample during the 45-day campaign that would end on January 15, 2008.

?The volunteers are expected to pick drug samples from the medical stores even in remote places. The drug samples would then be sent to drug makers (who have procured the license to produce the packs) for verification, while the doubtful packs would be sent for further investigation,? the drug controller general of India M Venkateshwarlu told FE.

Regarding the action the ministry would take against the producers of fake drugs, Venkateshwarlu said there is a provision of life imprisonment as maximum punishment. Depending on the probable danger the drug would pose to human health, the government would award penalty accordingly. The exercise would particularly help weed out the errant drug manufacturers, which earn a bad name for the industry that otherwise is making a mark on the global map, he added.

Industry sources said that fake drugs is a big industry in the country and would easily be worth thousands of crores of rupees. The trade is flourishing with support from the retail chemists as they get better margins on fake drugs as compared to branded medicines. People who approach chemists without a doctor?s prescription are more likely to purchase counterfeit drugs, said the source.

A recent report by the European Commission said that India is the biggest source of counterfeit drugs in the world, followed by the United Arab Emirates and China. ?Together, these three countries are responsible for more than 80% of all counterfeit medicines,? the report said.

Seizure of fake drugs in Europe has increased over five-fold at 2.7 million during 2006 as compared to 500,000 units during a year ago. The emergence of pharmaceutical industry in India besides developing industrial capacity of the nations also poses a danger of increased production and export of spurious drugs, the report said.