Some 2,300 fake Viagra tablets were seized in the Republic by the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) last year, it has emerged.
The counterfeit tablets originated in China and after tests were found to be different in size to the genuine product. They also contained varying amounts of the active ingredient normally found in Viagra.
The tablets were in a consignment intercepted by Customs officers working in conjunction with the board. There was "potentially a legal action pending", the board said.
Details of the fake tablets were revealed by the board after a report funded by the Department of Health and carried out by researchers at Dublin City University warned of the dangers of buying medicines on the internet. The report, which was commissioned by the Irish Patients' Association, stressed that those buying medicines in this way could be getting counterfeit drugs with the potential to damage their health. It said the quality of products available over the internet was unknown. It added that the extent of counterfeit drugs in the Republic was unknown and needed to be researched.
The board, which also issued a warning about buying drugs over the internet yesterday, said that apart from counterfeit Viagra it also seized 100 tablets of counterfeit Halotestin, an anabolic steroid used for body-building, and thousands of counterfeit condoms last year. At least some of the condoms had holes in them.
In addition, it carried out 220 seizures of illegal importations in liaison with Customs officers. Some of these were genuine products, but imported cheaply without prescription or a licence. They included African creams and anabolic steroids. Furthermore, the board said it had been involved in the closure of 12 websites illegally selling medicinal products via the internet since 2000. Three of these websites were based in Ireland.
"The IMB estimates that the prevalence of counterfeit products to be somewhat low in Ireland for a number of reasons including the fact that the IMB has a very active enforcement function in operation for a number of years now which has worked effectively with national agencies as well as at an international level in monitoring, investigating potential illegal activities in the medicinal area," it said.
The main method of importing counterfeit medicinal products into the Republic was the postal service, which is monitored, the board added.
It warned that the importation of prescription-only medicinal products for personal use via the internet was illegal.