english.prescrire.org > Spotlight > Archives : 2009 > Drug counterfeiting: false and genuine problems

Spotlight: Archives

Every month, the subjects in Prescrire’s Spotlight.

2009 : 1 | 30 | 60 | 90

Drug counterfeiting: false and genuine problems

Drug counterfeiting mainly affects poorly controlled pharmaceutical channels such as those in poor countries and on the internet. Some solutions currently being offered to combat counterfeiting are designed to strengthen the major pharmaceutical companies’ control over the markets in the face of the growing power of firms in the emerging economies.
Full text is available for download by subscribers.

- Click here for full review (subscribers only).

There is growing talk of drug counterfeiting and the dangers it represents for patients. Some of this is scaremongering which only creates confusion and disguises commercial interests.

The definition itself of a counterfeit drug is problematic. The World Health Organization states that it is a drug which misleads the user as to the nature of the drug and/or its real manufacturer. It does not apply, for example, to generic drugs which are legally exempt from patent law and used in poor countries. And yet various sources (pharmaceutical companies and European customs in particularly) confuse the two, which artificially inflates the figures relating to the drugs concerned.

The health consequences of counterfeit drugs vary from one drug to another and can be severe (fake antibiotics in Africa, for example) or mild (such as counterfeit Viagra° that does not contain sildenafil).

Mostly counterfeiting affects poor countries where there are not sufficient controls over the pharmaceutical channels. This also applies to drugs sold over the internet.

Some solutions currently being offered to combat counterfeiting are designed to strengthen the major pharmaceutical companies’ control over the markets in the face of the growing power of firms in the emerging economies (India and China in particular).

The main problem for poor countries is that of drugs that are too costly or of insufficient quality.

©Prescrire June 2009

Source: "Counterfeit drugs: recognising the real issues" Prescrire Int 2009; 18 (101): 135-1 - 135-5.

- Click here for full review (subscribers only).

- More articles in Prescrire's "Spotlight"...