Fight the Fakes battle
June 11, 2014
THE US Pharmacopeial
Convention (USP) has seen 11 new
organisations join the ‘Fight the
Fakes’ campaign against counterfeit
or fake medicines.
USP ceo Ron Piervincenzi said
such products could harm patients,
causing further illness, disability or
even death, and could also increase
resistance to real treatments.
USP said a WHO-collaborated
study of anti-malarial medications
in sub-Saharan Africa found that
26% to 40% of samples were substandard
or of poor quality.
WHO’s latest update to its
counterfeit medicine page
said defining the extent of
counterfeiting was difficult, with
most industrialised countries with
effective regulatory systems, such
as Australia, having an extremely
low incidence of spurious, falsely
labelled, falsified or counterfeit
(SFFC) medicines.
“But in many African countries,
and in parts of Asia, Latin America,
and countries in transition, a much
higher percentage of the medicines
on sale may be SFFC.”
New organisations to join the
campaign include the European
Association of Pharmaceutical
Wholesalers, the Generic
Pharmaceutical Association and
the International Federation of
Pharmaceutical Wholesalers.
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