The Threat Keeps Rising
On a daily basis, many individuals unknowingly risk death or serious injury to their health by taking counterfeit drugs. As executive director of the Pharmaceutical Security Institute (PSI), I see first-hand how counterfeiters thrive in countries where the anti-counterfeiting laws are weak; the drug regulatory agencies are underfunded and understaffed; and legal sanctions are ineffective.
Earlier this spring, PSI completed its review of the worldwide situation and began briefing law enforcement and drug regulators as to the nature and extent of this threat. As I shared with Bloomberg News, a recurring theme this year was more—more incidents involving more types of drugs in more countries. Specifically, in 2007 we saw a total of 1759 incidents of counterfeit, stolen or illegally diverted drugs; 24 percent more than we found in 2006. The number of countries reporting incidents also increased (from 100 to 112) and the types of drugs these criminals are targeting rose more than 14 percent. Last year, counterfeiters sold 639 different types of branded, generic and over-the-counter drugs and used improved packaging to make their fake goods harder to detect.
But more also applies to the good news—more arrests (up 39 percent), more international cooperation, more organizations taking a stand against counterfeit drugs, more countries recognizing the inadequacy of their anti-counterfeiting resources and more governments taking steps to address these shortcomings.
In my last entry, I shared with you the Partnership’s new Principles for Drug Safety doctrine. In it, we called on the United States and the international community to unify in the fight against counterfeit drugs. Around the world, individual countries are beginning to understand that fake drugs are a global public health hazard that requires an international solution.
Still, serious challenges remain and the need for a unified front is stronger than ever. In the meantime, keep visiting SafeMedicines.org to learn how we can work together to protect the safety of our prescription medicines.