A man who illegally sold unlicensed medicines via websites including Amazon and eBay has been jailed for three and a half years at Southwark Crown Court in London. 

Antoine Kolias was handed a custodial sentence on Friday June 28 after a three-week-trial that followed an investigation by the MHRA’s Criminal Enforcement Unit (CEU). 

The CEU investigation established that 31-year-old Mr Kolias, a graduate of the University of Manchester, had acted as a distributor for an “established” dealer of unlicensed medicines as well as operating his own business that sold sildenafil citrate products in addition to the Class C drugs tramadol, zopiclone and pregabalin. The illegal sales of medicines sourced from India, the Middle East and the Far East took place initially from the summer of 2018 to October 2019, and again on dates over 2020 and 2021. 

Sildenafil products were sold on Amazon and eBay with the claim that they were a “100% natural remedy” and “risk free” using packaging designed by Mr Kolias himself. He also coined his own brand names, including Vital-X and VigoreX. 

The MHRA said that after a series of packages were intercepted by UK border officials and “throughout the postal system,” Mr Kolias was first arrested in October 2019 at his north London address where CEU officers found almost 100,000 tablets.  

Following this arrest and the seizure of the medicines, Mr Kolias resumed his business while on bail. He used the personal details of a friend to re-establish his Amazon sales platform and sell sildenafil products under the brand name of Evoxa. 

An additional four parcels destined for Mr Kolias’ sister’s address that contained over 170,000 doses were intercepted by border forces. 

Mr Kolias was convicted of 16 counts, including three counts concerning the fraudulent evasion of prohibitions on import goods and three counts of supplying unauthorised medicinal products contrary to the Human Medicines Regulations 2012.

P3pharmacy approached Amazon and eBay to ask what safeguards they have in place to protect consumers against sellers of unlicensed medicines. A spokesperson for eBay replied: “We take the safety of our users very seriously. We work closely with authorities such as the MHRA and Trading Standards to keep our platform safe. We recently worked with the MHRA to enhance our algorithms to successfully block more than half a million attempts to list unregulated prescription medicines, over-the-counter medicines and medical devices before they could even be offered for sale to the public”.  

"Our Regulatory Portal also enables authorities to report listings of unsafe, non-compliant and/or illegal products to us for automated removal within 2 hours. Any items found in breach of our prohibited and restricted items policies will be removed immediately and action taken against the seller, which could include suspending their account.”

No response was received from Amazon UK's press office. 

The MHRA said: “Websites operating outside the legal supply chain may seem tempting, for example, offering a prescription medicine without a prescription. 

“Not only are these sites breaking the law – they’re putting your health at risk.

“Some [medicines] are sold using websites designed to look like legitimate pharmacies or online retailers, while others might be advertised via online marketplaces or social media sites.”