Counterfeit Medications Continued

            After our discussion in class on Monday, I thought it would be interesting to do a little more research on the topic of counterfeit drugs on a global scale. I looked on the World Health Organization website and found a lot of quality information and facts that I think you all would enjoy!

            One of the biggest issues with counterfeit drugs is once again, the fact that there is no universally adopted definition of what a counterfeit drug is. This makes it harder to see the true extent of the problem on a global scale and limits peoples' ability to understand the issue. According to the WHO, the definition of a counterfeit drug is, "deliberately and fraudulently mislabeled with respect to identity and/or source. Counterfeiting can apply to both branded and generic products and counterfeit products may include products with the correct ingredients or with the wrong ingredients, without active ingredients, with insufficient active ingredients or with fake packaging".

            They go on to explain the extent of the problem to the best of their ability. They know that this issue is occurring in developed and developing countries, but once again they do not know how bad the problem is due to the lack of research and studies that have been done. This was first noted as a problem in 1985 in Kenya and has been growing ever since. Between January of 1999 and October of 2000, the WHO received 46 reports relating to such drugs from 20 different countries (60% from developing countries and 40% from developed countries). Some of the drugs that were counterfeit were antibiotics, hormones, analgesics, steroids and antihistamines.

            Another thing that I found interesting was the way in which the WHO grouped counterfeit drugs. There are six different categories as follows:

• 1.     Products without active ingredients
• 2.     Products with incorrect quantities of active ingredients
• 3.     Products with wrong ingredients
• 4.     Products with correct quantities of active ingredients but with fake packaging
• 5.     Copies of an original product
• 6.     Products with high levels of impurities and contaminants

(The above are listed in order of which one is most common to which one is least common.)

            One of the biggest problems that we face in addressing the issue of counterfeit drugs is the fact that some factors actually encourage the production of these types of drugs. For one, medicines are high value items and they are always going to be in demand. Also, the substitutes that are put into medications are a lot cheaper to buy than the other active ingredients. Producing counterfeit drugs can also be done almost anywhere and there isn't a huge factory or facility that is needed to do so. This is an easy area to deceive people because of the fact that your everyday citizen won't be able to detect whether or not their drug is counterfeit. The following list describes many of the factors that encourage the production of counterfeit drugs:

• ·      Lack of political will and commitment
• ·      Lack of appropriate drug legislation
• ·      Absence of or weak drug regulation
• ·      Weak enforcement and penal sanctions
• ·      Corruption and conflict of interest
• ·      Demand exceeding supply
• ·      High prices of medicines
• ·      Insufficient cooperation between stakeholders
• ·      Lack of regulation by exporting countries and within free trade zones
• ·      Trade through several intermediaries
• ·      Impact on public health

            This clearly shows how difficult it will be to completely fix this issue. As we discussed in class, it is something that should be more recognized and that is getting more research. At the same time, it is important to develop numerous interventions and ways of stopping this from occurring in order to eliminate this problem in the future.

References:

http://www.who.int/medicines/services/counterfeit/overview/en/index2.html