A British man was jailed for eight years on Friday for his role in supplying more than 2 million doses of fake medicines in the most serious known case of counterfeit drugs getting into the European supply chain.

Faking prescription drugs is a lucrative and growing criminal business and Peter Gillespie, 64, was involved in a global network stretching from China to Belgium and Mauritius to supply drugs and launder money, a British court heard.

Investigators from Britain's medicines watchdog said the case was particularly alarming given the serious conditions for which the medicines were used - treating schizophrenia and heart disease and prostate cancer.

A total of 25,000 packs containing 700,000 fake doses of Eli Lilly Zyprexa, Sanofi-Aventis's Plavix and AstraZeneca's Casodex reached pharmacies and patients in care centers, hospitals and at home across Britain in 2007.

A further 47,000 packs were either seized by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) from a warehouse or recalled from the supply chain.

Four other men were acquitted in the case, the MHRA said in a statement.