E-DRUG: Counterfeit medicines: the silent epidemic (4)
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Dear e-druggers,
Whenever counterfeit medicines come up the word INDIA always appears. Please read this interview below from world peace herald. If members have come across any specific instances involving India, I wish to know so that I can take up the matter with concerned ministries. At the same time our industry and drug control regimes make us believe the problem of counterfeit and or substandard drugs does not exist.
regards
V.Bhava Narayana
Editor
Pharmed Trade News
3-3-62/A, New Gokhale Nagar,
Ramanthapur, Hyderabad-500 013.
Phone: +91-40-27030681
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www.pharmedtradenews.com
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Counterfeit drugs rampant in developing world By John Zarocostas
The Washington Times special correspondent
Published February 27, 2006
GENEVA -- Special correspondent John Zarocostas interviewed Harvey E. Bale Jr., director general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations and president of the Pharmaceutical Security Institute, on efforts for the World Health Organization (WHO) to establish an International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce. Mr. Bale, a former U.S. government official, earned a doctorate in economics at the University of Maryland. He was interviewed in Geneva.
Question: How serious is the counterfeiting of medicines worldwide, and what do you think can come out of this international task force being set up by the WHO that may start work this summer?
Answer: On the scope of the counterfeiting problem, I think you have to look at this regionally. On a world scale, it's perhaps 1 or 2 percent by value, but it's misleading to think of it in that way because what you have is a large gap between the situation in developed countries like the United States or Europe, Japan, Canada, where medicines are safe. The probability of a patient in the United States encountering a counterfeit drug at the pharmacy is almost nil, but if you go across the border, say, to Mexico or to South America, Asia or Africa, you can have a 20 to 30 percent chance of being sold a fake pharmaceutical. So it's large in developing countries.
But it's also increasing in terms of the number of [counterfeit drug] seizures in developed countries. I think the establishment of this new task force can help in two ways. First, by raising the attention given to the problem. We mustn't discourage patients from taking their medicine. That's worse than doing nothing.
We also need to raise the profile and priority of this issue among police authorities, customs authorities, among the judiciary to give severe penalties for this heinous crime against people. This is attempted murder, in a sense, because you have people who consciously, deliberately mislead people into taking drugs that are not what they purport to be. That's the definition of a counterfeit.
They may be expired products, they may have no active ingredients, or they may have more active ingredients -- that is also dangerous.
Q: Is the Internet increasing the problem, and could this get worse in the future with more bogus Internet pharmaceutical sites selling counterfeit medicines?