Many Danes use glucosamine against joint pain, and thousands have been deceived into purchasing the product illegally from the website sundeled.dk. In addition to the risk of a DKK 2,500 fine for purchasing illegal medicines, several Danes have been threatened with debt collection when they have tried to return the illegal medicine.
The company behind sundeled.dk, Helse Danmark A/S, is based in Singapore and run by a Dane. The company is not registered in Denmark, and The Danish Medicines Agency considers the company to be fake. Therefore, it has reported the company’s website to the police for illegal sale of medicines.
A sad record
”We have never seen so many packages of one single medicine from one website imported into Denmark within such a short period of time. Unfortunately, sundeled.dk has broken an already sad record in deceiving Danes into purchasing medicines illegally. Consequently, we warn people in order to avoid more Danes being cheated", says Head of Department Frank Wendelbo-Madsen from the Danish Medicines Agency.
From 1 November 2010 to 18 April 2011, the Danish tax and customs authorities and the Danish Medicines Agency have seized 1,451 packages of glucosamine. In addition, we have still not been able to register all of the boxes with packages of medicine, potentially containing glucosamine.
However, glucosamine is actually an authorised over-the-counter medicine in Denmark.
Danes are threatened with debt collection
Danes who have purchased glucosamine at sundeled.dk inform the Danish Medicines Agency that the owner has threatened them with debt collection to receive payment when they have tried to return the illegal medicine and unsubscribe to glucosamine.
It is your responsibility to ensure the medicine is legal
It is illegal to import medicines from countries outside the EU/EEA. Consumers are responsible for ensuring that medicines purchased online are legal to import into Denmark. Consumers will receive a warning the first time they import medicines illegally, but the second time, they are usually fined DKK 2,500 by the police.
Beware of helsedanmark.dk, sawpalmetto.dk, curcumin.dk…
The company Helse Danmark also has other websites, including helsedanmark.dk, sawpalmetto.dk, curcumin.dk and ginkgobiloba.dk. The Danish Medicines Agency advises consumers to be particularly careful when purchasing medicines online: there are many websites which try to deceive consumers.
