WARNING: Counterfeit NovoFine needles discovered in England

[Kansenji]

Novo Nordisk and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the UK are warning the public and healthcare professionals about the discovery of a small number of counterfeit NovoFine® needles on the UK market.

The needles are not made by Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of NovoFine® needles and do not comply with the company’s stringent product quality standards. At this point, there is no information indicating that counterfeit needles have been sold in markets outside the UK.

The counterfeit needles are sized Fine 31g x 6mm and have the batch number 08J02S, expiry 08/2013.

The needles are used with Novo Nordisk’s insulin injection pens both the disposable and durable pen types.

Novo Nordisk has carried out a Health Hazard Evaluation which assessed that using the counterfeit product would most likely only cause minor adverse events such as local skin reactions around the injection site.

Novo Nordisk was alerted to the existence of counterfeit products following two customer complaints in England in March. The company immediately informed the local regulatory authorities in the UK, launched an investigation and increased monitoring of complaints.

This article is mentioned on the Diabetes.co.uk Home page, but HERE IS THE DETAILED NOVO NORDISK ARTICLE.

 

[nessa-lou]

wow how scary!!! eek, i shall be checking when i get my prescription!! lol x

 

[Dennis]

I find it amazing that anyone would go to the trouble of counterfeiting something like pen needles. They're not a particularly high-value item and must need some pretty high-tech and expensive equipment to produce. Surely it can't be economical to counterfeit them.

 

[Aadrgon]

Someone will always find a way to make money. I believe I read , several months ago, that crooks in India were melting coins to make razor blades as the razor blades were worth more.

I had an idea of filing down £2 coins to make £1 coins but it occured to me although I'd be making money, I wouldn't be making money :lol:

think I'll go and lie down in a darkened room for a bit now

 

[nessa-lou]

haha some people are just so silly though! how stupid! lol. surely they cant get that much for them and esspecially of the nhs and things like that because alot are prescriped! lol x

 

[Aadrgon]

surely they cant get that much for them and esspecially of the nhs and things like that because alot are prescriped! lol x

Unfortunately Nessa, the NHS end up paying for them big time.

 

[nessa-lou]

wow really, haha well how little i know. haha i might go into this business...joke! no i think its awful someone would do such a thing. knowing my doctors they would probs give me these needles as they at totally and utterly useless and rude! well thats another story haha

 

[Trinkwasser]

Could be they were a bad batch from whatever factory maufactures them which were marketed instead of being disposed of. This happened recently with a batch of possibly dud test strips, they should have gone for landfill but ended up on Ebay.

 

[Kansenji]

Could be they were a bad batch from whatever factory maufactures them which were marketed instead of being disposed of. This happened recently with a batch of possibly dud test strips, they should have gone for landfill but ended up on Ebay.

No, that is not the case, the Novo Nordisk article states "The needles are not made by Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of NovoFine® needles".

Also the thread is a different size and a different type of glue is used on the counterfeit needles.