Counterfeit needles !

And another!! All fun today
Nick

Counterfeit NovoFine needles discovered in England

27 March 2009

A small number of counterfeit NovoFine needles have been discovered in the UK, warn Novo Nordisk and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

The needles are not made by Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of NovoFine needles.

The counterfeit needles are sized Fine 31g x 6mm and have the batch number 08J02S, expiry 08/2013. They are used with Novo Nordisk’s disposable and durable insulin injection pens.

Novo Nordisk says that the counterfeit needles would most likely only cause minor side effects such as skin reactions around the injection site.
How to detect a counterfeit NovoFine needle

* It has a batch number of 08J02S.
* It has a transparent glue on the top where the cannula is glued to the hub of the needle (the glue on a Novo Nordisk NovoFine needle is white/yellow).
* The needle may not fit well on the device, as the thread is of inferior quality (this may cause leakage of insulin).
* The counterfeit packaging lacks a line underneath the CE number on each box containing a hundred individual needles - as circled below, in an illustration from the Novo Nordisk website:

What to do if you're affected

If you think your needle is counterfeit you should contact your pharmacy or Novo Nordisk UK immediately on 0845 6005055.

At this point, there is no information indicating that counterfeit needles have been sold outside the UK.

This may be a daft question but, how and why would anyone want to produce these things? apart from a small amount of money, what could these people possibly hope to gain?

It's a scary thought though

Hi Clare,

It's like the counterfeit drug market ~ produce it cheaply, sell it on to wholesalers cheaper than they can buy the 'real McCoy' and they pass it on and thereby increasing their profits!

Don't forget that some of these counterfeit drugs have been found over here in chemists! They package them exactly the same way down to holograms etc...so needles must be very simple and an attractive proposition to any wholesaler who is desperately trying to cut costs and is unaware that they may be forgeries.

Nick