The European Union should strengthen penalties against companies trading in counterfeit drugs, a report from the School of Pharmacy at the University of London recommends.

It also calls for better monitoring of trading of drugs and better provision of information to the public to try to combat the growing problem of counterfeit drugs.

The report warns that counterfeiting, which has been a major problem for some years in developing countries, is now increasing in Europe. Recent World Health Organization statistics show that 30% of drugs supplied in developing countries are fake.

The report documents cases showing that the problem applies to branded and generic products and ranges from the illegal use of copyrighted commercial brands to manufacture of fake drugs.

In some East European countries, such as Russia, about 10% of drugs are counterfeit, the report notes. In West European countries, such as the United Kingdom, less than 1% (by value) of drugs …