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- Title
Safety of medicines. Combating counterfeit medicines.
- Abstract
Substandard medicines are products whose composition and ingredients do not meet the correct scientific specifications and which may consequently be ineffective and often dangerous to the patient. Substandard products may occur as a result of negligence, human error, insufficient human and financial resources or counterfeiting.Counterfeit medicines are part of the broader phenomenon of substandard pharmaceuticals. The difference is that they are deliberately and fraudulently mislabeled with respect to identity and/or source. Counterfeiting can apply to both branded and generic products and counterfeit medicines may include products with the correct ingredients but fake packaging, with the wrong ingredients, without active ingredients or with insufficient active ingredients. In wealthier countries, new expensive medicines are frequently counterfeited such as hormones, corticosteroids, cancer drugs or antiretrovirals. In developing countries, the most counterfeited medicines are those used to treat life-threatening conditions such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.Trade in these medicines is more prevalent in countries with weak drug regulation control and enforcement, scarcity and/or erratic supply of basic medicines, unregulated markets and unaffordable prices (http://www.who.int/medicines). It is estimated that counterfeits make up a significant proportion of the global medicines market and are present in both industrialized and developing countries. Industry figures estimate annual earnings from the sales of counterfeit and substandard medicines at over US$ 32 billion globally.
- Publication
WHO Drug Information, 2004, Vol 18, Issue 2, p133
- ISSN
1010-9609
- Publication type
Journal Article