Rooftop raiders steal $76m of Lilly products
pharmafile | March 18, 2010 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Sales and Marketing |Â Â lilly, supply chain, theftÂ
Thieves have made off with $75 million-worth of central nervous system, cardiovascular and cancer drugs from an Eli Lilly distribution facility in the US in a highly-organised heist which is thought to be the biggest ever affecting the pharmaceutical industry.
The highly-organised raiders gained access to Lilly’s distribution facility in Enfield, Connecticut on 14 March, disabling phone lines, cutting a hole in the roof and abseiling down into the building’s telecommunications centre.
Once inside, the thieves were able to shut down alarm and access control systems and help themselves to 70 pallets of assorted Lilly products.
The haul included cases of the antidepressants Prozac (fluoxetine) and Cymbalta (duloxetine), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder treatment Strattera (atomoxetine), antipsychotic Zyprexa (olanzapine), cancer drugs Gemzar (gemcitabine) and Alimta (pemetrexed), and the cardiovascular treatment Efient (prasugrel).
The Enfield facility is Lilly’s main distribution hub for the east coast region of the USA.
Lilly said it was working with the US Food and Drug Administration and law enforcement officials to try to recover the products, noting: “The US pharmaceutical distribution system is tightly controlled and monitored, making it extremely difficult for stolen product to make it to patients through legitimate channels.”
The company has stopped distributing product with the affected lot numbers and is advising all those handling medicines in the supply chain to check products for tampering or damage prior to purchase and/or use.
Charles Forsaith of the Pharmaceutical Cargo Security Coalition, an industry group dedicated to combating theft of pharmaceutical products, said the perpetrators were likely “a highly-organised group who had conducted lengthy surveillance related activities on that particular site”.
With pharmaceutical cargo theft on the increase in the US, he recommends that companies review their security procedures at all locations, “particularly ones that are not manned 24/7”, with particular attention to “premise alarms, cellular back-up capability and the security of telecommunications systems”.
The latest heist bears all the hallmarks of being carried out by the same group which raided a GlaxoSmithKline facility in Richmond, Virginia, last year, making off with $5 million-worth of Advair (fluticasone propionate and salmeterol) asthma inhalers. In that raid too the thieves gained entry to the building through the roof.
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