07/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - The methods which can be used in the fight against the counterfeiting of medicines and other pharmaceutical crimes and to protect public health were the main subject of a two-day training course held in Strasbourg on 6 and 7 December. The training programme, which was designed by the ad hoc group of the Council of Europe on counterfeit medicines, aims to raise awareness among representatives of the bodies in charge of making checks and stamping down on such crimes, and to bolster their capacity in terms of prevention, the communication of information and investigations in the field of drugs counterfeiting, and to prevent any harm to the health of the end user. Trainers from France, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom shared their experience in this field with fourteen teams from the Member States of the Council of Europe, specialising in the fields of health and the fight against crime. (O.J.)