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Fake drugs given to NHS patients still untraced

Only eight people out of several thousand who received counterfeit drugs from the NHS in an incident in 2007 have been identified. Of those eight, only three have been informed about the incident, a BBC investigation has learned. 72,000 packs of counterfeit drugs entered the UK supply chain in 2007 but 25,000 remain untraced. The regulator, the MHRA, has said it took swift action in 2007 and issued its "most serious recall notice". A new EU directive will further improve patient safety, it added. In the spring of 2007, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued an emergency recall of drugs which had been identified as counterfeit. Those recalled included batches of the prostate cancer drug Casodex; of a drug used to treat heart complaints called Plavix; and of Zyprexa, which is used to control the symptoms of schizophrenia. The MHRA successfully seized 40,000 packs before they were distributed to pharmacies but 25,000 reached chemists acros