Counterfeit Drugs 7: WHO, InterPol and IFPMA on SFFC

The spurious/falsely-labelled/falsified/counterfeit (SFFC) medicines or simply counterfeit medicines is a big public health problem. Patients who take such fake and/or substandard drugs will not experience improvement from their illness unless their immune system is strong enough. At worse, their condition might even worsen as the disease can mutate and evolve into something more complicated, and can even result to death.

While the more commonly faked medicines are those patented or newly-introduced ones and hence, are priced high, even cheaper but popular generic drugs are also counterfeited. The Department of Health (DOH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are also raising public awareness of this problem, like this DOH poster.

At the World Health Organization (WHO) website, this basic information is posted.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs275/en/

Medicines: spurious/falsely-labelled/ falsified/counterfeit (SFFC) medicines

Fact sheet N°275
May 2012

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Key facts

• Spurious/falsely-labelled/falsified/counterfeit (SFFC) medicines are medicines that are deliberately and fraudulently mislabelled with respect to identity and/or source.
• Use of SFFC medicines can result in treatment failure or even death.
• Public confidence in health systems may be eroded following use and/or detection of SFFC medicines.
• Both branded and generic products are subject to counterfeiting.
• All kinds of medicines have been counterfeited, from medicines for the treatment of life-threatening conditions to inexpensive generic versions of painkillers and antihistamines.
• SFFC medicines may include products with the correct ingredients or with the wrong ingredients, without active ingredients, with insufficient or too much active ingredient, or with fake packaging.

Recently, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), based in Geneva like the WHO, produced a short video clip about the danger of SFFC medicines, Watch Out for False Friends.

Some of the points mentioned by the WHO above were reiterated there. It also highlighted that some 124 countries are impacted/affected by these fakes, and 532 products have been counterfeited. The longer, 3:30 minutes version, is found here.

These fakes that are dangerous to public health are being exposed by certain civil society organizations including the federation or association of pharma companies themselves, both innovator and generic. And there is a big role for the government here, when civil society effort are not enough and a bigger, wider network of government agencies, local and national, armed (the police) and non-armed, are needed. After all, the main function of government is to promulgate the rule of law, including the law against stealing the intellectual property of certain companies like trademark, patent and copyright.

The former Executive Director of PHAP, Reiner Gloor, wrote a paper about this subject a few months ago. He discussed the role of the Interpol, in coordination with country governments, drug manufacturers and civil society organizations, in battling this global crime. For instance,

In 2012, an Interpol-supported initiative spanning 100 countries aimed at disrupting the organized crime networks behind the illicit online sale of medicines, resulted in some 80 arrests and the seizure of 3.75 million units of counterfeit medicines worth $10.5 million.

Below is the article.
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http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Weekender&title=Interpol-in-fight-vs-fake-medicines&id=67608

Interpol in fight vs fake medicines

Medicine Cabinet -- Reiner W. Gloor

Posted on March 21, 2013 07:22:41 PM

FAKE MEDICINES are found everywhere in the world. Emerging economies like the Philippines, as well as highly developed countries with strong regulatory systems, have fallen victims to pharmaceutical counterfeiting.

In the Philippines, close coordination between the government and the pharmaceutical industry has resulted in the monitoring and seizure of counterfeit medicines in Metro Manila and some provinces. A multi-stakeholders alliance advocating patient safety called the Safe Medicines Network has also been established to help the government in the campaign against fake medicines.