Even FDA inspectors cannot tell fake Viagra from real ones

The food and drug administration and the public security bureau of Nanjing's Qixia district recently found some nearly-real-but-still-fake Viagra pills during a surprise check of local adult stores which are only open at night. The pills looked so real that even experts from the administration could not tell whether they were counterfeit.

A preliminary investigation shows there are nearly 30 adult stores in the district, most of which do not have a license, said Huang Da, deputy director of the administration. During the surprise check, the inspectors found in an adult store some Viagra pills that were very similar to the genuine ones, but later confirmed as fake by the China headquarters of Pfizer, the manufacturer of Viagra.

Huang said that the packaging of Viagra involves certain core techniques of Pfizer, making it difficult even for FDA inspectors to tell fake Viagra from real ones.

Pfizer said in a fax on July 4 that the company has never sold products with such packaging. The inspectors also found in the store a few other Viagra variants with English-only packaging, but Pfizer said that it has never sold Viagra with English-only packaging in China. "Therefore, Viagra with English-only packaging in Nanjing must be fake," Huang said.

Adult stores buy fake Viagra for only one or two yuan per pill

An undercover reporter visited several adult stores in Nanjing the other day, and found that a drug named "Viagra King" is sold for more than 50 yuan per pill.

The store owners claimed that they bought the drugs from drugstores, and then resold them for a small profit. However, the inspectors said the owners just waited at their stores to buy the drugs from middlemen. Licensed drugstores sell real Viagra for more than 100 yuan per pill, while certain adult stores buy fake Viagra for only one or two yuan per pill.