Lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced a bill Thursday that would increase penalties for the sale, manufacture or trafficking of counterfeit pharmaceutical products.
The Counterfeit Drug Penalty Enhancement Act, introduced by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Reps. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.) and Linda Sánchez (D-Calif.), would increase the maximum prison sentence for counterfeiting medicine to 20 years for first-time offenders, and increase the maximum fine to $4 million for first-time offenders, and to $8 million for repeat offenders.
The proposed legislation would also increase the maximum fine to $10 million for any institution guilty of violating the law for the first time, and to $20 million for any institution guilty of repeat offenses.
“While the manufacture and sale of any counterfeit product is a serious crime, counterfeit medication poses a grave danger to public health that warrants a harsher punishment,” said Leahy, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “This legislation will raise those penalties to a level that meets the severity of the offense.”
Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, described counterfeit medicines as “some of the most profitable commodities for criminal organizations.”
“Purchases of counterfeit drugs by unsuspecting customers are growing at alarming rates, especially over the internet,” he said.
Reports indicate that counterfeit drugs cause 100,000 deaths around the world annually, and account for an estimated $75 billion in yearly revenue for criminal organizations, according to Leahy’s office.
