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Counterfeits: reducing the growing threat: steps companies can take to help safeguard patients and the pharma supply chain.

Article Excerpt
The value of counterfeit drugs sold globally is estimated at more than $35 billion (ebsolon 27.5 billion) and the US Center for Medicines in the Public Interest recently predicted that this figure could reach $75 billion (ebsolon 58.9 billion) by 2010. A report by the International Medicinal Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT)--created by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2006 to mobilize awareness and action in the fight against counterfeit drugs--stated that 10-30% of medicines for sale in much of the developing world are counterfeit. For medicines purchased via the internet from sites that conceal their physical location, IMPACT estimates that up to 50% may be counterfeit. (1)

Counterfeit medicines can range from 'copycat' medicines that contain the declared active ingredient, to those with inactive preparations or random mixtures of toxic substances. All counterfeits are dangerous because their content and quality are unknown. WHO has documented thousands of cases worldwide of counterfeit medicines causing serious illnesses or death because of substandard, ineffective or toxic ingredients. The threat is particularly acute in developing countries where counterfeit treatments for life-threatening conditions such as malaria and HIV are commonly available.

In addition to their impact on global public health, counterfeit drugs pose a serious threat to the pharmaceutical industry--both to the sales of specific products and to the reputation of the industry as a whole. With the tremendous costs and challenges of bringing new therapies to market, pharmaceutical companies cannot afford the additional threat of having a product's efficacy or safety called into question because of ineffective or dangerous counterfeits. There has been much progress within the industry to test sophisticated technologies such as radio-frequency identification (RFID) to combat counterfeiting, but widespread implementation of any technological solution is still some time away. However, there are numerous steps a company can take immediately to help prevent...

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