UK woman gets eight months in jail for fake drug sales

A woman from Stoke-on-Trent in the UK has been sentenced to eight months in jail for operating a website involved in the supply of counterfeit prescription-only medicines.

Norma Ene Ruutel-Glykys, of Canadian/Cypriot nationality, was arrested in March 2009 after a joint operation by the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and local police which saw five properties raided and 65,000 doses of medicines seized.

The website, www.pharma2u.com, advertised a range of prescription medicines which were sent to customers from Southern Cyprus. Tests on the products by the MHRA revealed them to be counterfeit.