Counterfeit medicines and imported drugs are putting lives at risk, a conference has been warned.
The Patients Association organised yesterday's hastily arranged meeting in London after two batches of fake drugs were discovered in Britain - the first time this has happened for a decade.
Simon Williams, the director of policy at the Patients Association, said his organisation was increasingly concerned about counterfeit medicines and the growth of unregulated internet pharmacies.
"The scale of some of these concerns needs to be acknowledged and we need to look at opportunities for any solutions, such as tamper-evident packaging on certain medicines or exploring the potential for technologies such as the bar coding of medicines," he said.
Last week the government's medicines watchdog said counterfeit versions of the anti-obesity drug, Reductil, had been discovered - only days after fake tablets of Cialis, a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction, were found.
While none of the medicines contained any harmful ingredients, there are concerns that if drugs for conditions such as epilepsy or high blood pressure were faked then patients' lives could be put at risk.
Sue Mitchell, the communications manager of Epilepsy Action, told the conference that there was a huge problem of pharmacists giving patients imported drugs from outside the UK supply chain. Many of these worked differently from British drugs.
She said that every year a quarter of epilepsy patients received a variety of drugs - many of them imported. A large number said they believed their symptoms had worsened as a result.
One woman was given a foreign brand. "Although the tablets looked the same, she started having complex partial seizures," said Ms Mitchell.
Another person had received Portuguese, Greek and Spanish medicines from their pharmacist. "There needs to be a recognition that consistency of supply is an issue for some health conditions," she said. "This requires changes in approach, guidance and regulations."
Jim Thomson, director of the Depression Alliance, was concerned about the rise of unregulated internet pharmacies.
"Before even visiting the GP, I will bet a pound to a penny that anyone with web access will try to find out more about the medication the doctor may offer," he said. "I certainly would.
"Given the stigma and the very real prospect of spiralling into the nightmare that is mental health provision in the NHS - where the average wait to see a counsellor is one month and to see a psychiatrist six - it's a short step from there to accessing an online pharmacy, self-prescribing and self-medicating. And I'm not scaremongering."
Mr Thomson said he had been able to buy over the web enough of an antidepressant called Amitryptiline, which is toxic in overdose, to kill a human being.
