Over 1.6 million units of illegal medicines were detained in Ireland in 2020 – a jump of 58% on 2019’s figure, the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) has said.

The most commonly detained categories of illegal products last year were sedatives, which saw a 36% increase when compared with 2019, and erectile dysfunction medicines, which saw a 30% increase.

Other categories of products included analgesics, anabolic steroids and Covid-19 medicines. A total of 56,876 units of Covid-19 medicines were detained, the majority of which were related to traditional Chinese medicine that is not approved or authorised for use in Ireland.

Meanwhile, 482 websites, e-commerce listings and/or social media pages were amended or shut down as a result of the products they contained.

“The internet is a major outlet for legitimate purchases, such as food, clothing and electronics, and people may not realise that sourcing prescription medicines online is illegal and that the sources behind these sites can be bogus, or worse, criminal networks.

“The monitoring of websites, online marketplace advertisements and social media sites throughout the year to identity illegal sales of illicit medicines is a key part of our work to protect consumers,” explained HPRA chief executive, Dr Lorraine Nolan.

She said that the HPRA is “seriously concerned” about the increasing number of people who may not realise the significant health risks associated with taking unregulated and possibly potent medicines that have been bought online.

“While, in many cases, those who buy online may be simply wasting their money on falsified products, they may also be taking very serious health risks. We know from our investigations and prosecutions that those who seek to profit from illegal medicines have little regard for the health of the end users of the medicines they are supplying.

“Our detentions over many years have identified that a significant proportion of these products are falsely labelled and do not contain the type or quantity of active ingredient as stated on the product information. Worryingly, they have also been found to contain harmful substances,” Dr Nolan noted.

The HPRA works closely with the Revenue Customs Service and the Gardaí. It also works internationally with the Interpol co-ordinated Operation Pangea.

“We continue to work closely with our national and international partners to combat illegal supply through intelligence sharing and working on joint detention and prevention efforts. We are grateful for their co-operation and assistance where we work together with one objective to safeguard public health,” Dr Nolan added.