Seychelles and large-scale commercialisation of forged pharmaceutical products?

Is Seychelles truly a new haven for large-scale commercialisation
of forged pharmaceutical products?

I was following a peak time news report on a main national TV channel in this EU country! Right in there with the other news was the one about fake pharmaceutical products that were reportedly flooding the so-called third world countries and even some EU states!

The news report deplored that some Asian countries such as India, were at the forefront in large –scale industrial forgery of everything from upscale clothing, software, food products to pharmaceuticals

Of the latter, the new rage is for so-called generic products that are selling over the net at prices that defy competition. And the best selling is the little miracle blue pill! Except that the blue is only a dodgy paint-job imitating the Viagra pill, but is unlikely to contain Sildenafil Citrate or any of the other active agents for Tadalafil or Vardenafil.!

I was about to go ‘ so what, the world is full of shysters out to make a fast buck,’ when the reporter revealed its bomb-shell, right there before its trusted millions of viewers.

The Seychelles is among the countries harbouring Indian companies, which commercialise fake Viagra pills over the net.

The report produced a net screen clearly showing the name ‘Seychelles’. I noticed an URL on the page shown and wanted to check it out for myself.

The site claims to have been “established since Feb 2005,’ and to be ‘one of the most affordable and reliable online pharmacies, … dedicated to bringing you a range of generic pharmaceuticals at reasonable prices and from reputable manufactures.

We are located in Seychelles and have several shipping locations around the world in order to satisfy the needs of our customers

To me, the site is quite innocuous and there is not much to distinguish it from the millions of others doing business over the net, if not for the lack of a Seychelles’ local address and a contact phone N° that could place its office anywhere between Kamtchatka to Timbouktou. It is child’s play for a company that wishes to operate behind the anonymity of the net to write up a web page and give a bogus location.

Except that French authorities seem to have managed to lay hands on some of the pharmaceutical products the company had sold to some EU pharmacies.

The Viagra and other products were all fake! EU pharmacies were conned by carefully planned marketing con-jobs, including substitution of de-activated products codes.

That’s for the news report! And it had to be featured a few hours after Mr. James Michel, President of the Seychelles had met his French counterpart, Mr Nicholas Sarkozy!

I was saddened that my beloved country had to be named as part of the ring of cyber-crime, though there was no proof that the company targeted by the news report is actually based in my homeland

Notwithstanding, Seychelles' national authorities should be diligent in assessing the merits of companies registered to do business from our shores. The world must know that it is not only our natural landscape that is pristine and attractive. So must be our national pride and conscience, and we must strive never to lose these to base cupidity in the quest to fill the national coffers!