History of Drug Counterfeiting and Methods of Combat

Headlines are filled with different brand of medicines being counterfeited in many developing countries; Studies are bursting with statistics showing 1% of medicines in the United States are fraud while global production claims 30%. Reviews are flooded with negative reactions from netizens on how NGOs should have obliterated counterfeiting by now; World Health Organization (WHO) is busy jotting down methods to combat this illegal practice; Non-profit organizations such The Peterson Group, icare.com and Anti-Counterfeiting Inc. receive complaints on their system and process of battling against drug counterfeit; Different government units such as that of Jakarta, Indonesia, Beijing and Shenzhen, China are scrutinized for loose security system. All of these issues have a sole reason for being: the existence of counterfeit medicines.

The struggle and concern against drug counterfeiting is as old as medicine itself, although not as rampant as it is today.

In as early as 400 BC there have been warnings of their presence as Dioscorides, a Greek physician, pharmacologist and botanist wrote in his ‘Materia Medica’ about the detection of counterfeit drugs. In the recent past, the unregulated proliferation of pharmaceutical industries and products has brought problems of extreme magnitude.

Concern regarding counterfeiting took a global scale after the establishment of WHO in 1948 but it was not addressed in an international sanction until 1985 in the Conference of Experts on the Rational Use of Drugs in Nairobi. The meeting suggests that WHO together with government units and NGOs should study the feasibility of setting up a study to conclusively know the real extent of the problem.

In 1988, the World Health Assembly requested the director-general of WHO to create a policy that would regulate the production, importation, exportation and distribution of medicines. The resolution also requested WHO to create alliance with UN secretary-general in case international provisions are violated.

The first international meeting on counterfeit medicines, a workshop conducted by WHO and the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (IFPMA), was held from April 1-3, 1992 in Geneva.

A resolution dubbed as WHA47.13 financed by the government of Japan was launched in 1994 with an objective to assist member states in identifying and assessing counterfeit problems and in development of necessary combat measures. The campaign was highly successful in raising awareness and since it ended in 1997, further international organizations and campaigns were also held dominating even online platform.

Drug Counterfeiting Worsens Heat Temperature in Africa

For those who are not too observant about things, chalk dust and flour seemed to be the same. With proper tools, counterfeiting experts can change the components of a legitimate medicine to chalk starch or paint particles with ease, sell it to a gray market or fairly distribute it on different pharmacies with loose security and inventory system. Advancement in technology doesn’t make it too hard to label and brand the fake medicines after the real ones. This global drug trade is thriving in Africa.

The markets in Africa are filled with counterfeited medicines. These medicines are placed side by side with counterfeited medicines. If you pick the wrong box, it can eventually lead to your death.

The outbreak of Malaria in this continent has been advantageous for counterfeiters to introduce their products to the market. When it was finally found out that the increase of mortality rate has been caused by some unknown substance in the medicines that were given to patients, dispensed by public hospitals, fake medicines have already spread far and wide in the region.

The discovery, last June, 2013 led to one of the largest seizures of phony medicines ever. The fakes which are enough to treat more than half the country's annual malaria cases, had they been genuine according to Wall Street Journal are part of a proliferation of bogus malaria drugs in Africa that threatens to undermine years of progress in tackling the disease.

According to reports released by The Peterson Group, a non-profit organization campaigning against the proliferation of counterfeit medicines, about 100, 000 deaths in Africa are linked to fraud drug products. The British think-tank, International Policy Network, on the other hand, estimates that globally, 700,000 deaths a year are caused by fake malaria and tuberculosis drug comparing the death toll to the equivalent of “four fully laden jumbo jets crashing every day.”

Many analysts blame the importers from Asia for the havoc it brought in Africa. China is known to have the practice of counterfeiting and many believe the distributors also come from the country. It is, in fact, not a secret that China, along with India, has a lot of records and complaints on the production of many counterfeit products. PRC also have the largest production base for both active and unfinished drugs around the world.

However, many cities are already being dragged in the fray. Jakarta, Indonesia and Hanoi, Vietnam to name a few are also included as they are also suspected to distribute their locally-produced fraud medicines.