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WHO and Partners Accelerate Fight Against Counterfeit Medicines

World Health Organization
2006-11-16 14:28 1771

Up to 50% of Medicines Sold Through Rogue Web Sites are Fake

GENEVA, Nov. 16 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The World Health Organization

(WHO) and more than 20 international partners are today launching a

comprehensive package of measures to help national authorities safeguard

their populations from the dangers of counterfeit medicines.

(Logo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/20061102095006-51.jpg )

At the opening of the first official meeting of IMPACT (the International

Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce) in Bonn, WHO and its partners

are unveiling a programme covering legislation, law enforcement, regulation,

technology and communication. IMPACT is also issuing a warning against

buying medicines from rogue web sites as well as cautioning governments that

existing laws against medical counterfeiters are inadequate and do not act as

deterrents.

Counterfeit medicines range from products containing no active

ingredients to those containing highly toxic substances. They can harm

patients by failing to treat serious conditions, can provoke drug resistance

and in some cases kill.

The latest estimates jointly elaborated by WHO, the OECD, and the

Pharmaceutical Security Institute show that more than 30% of medicines in

some areas of Latin America, South East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are

counterfeit. In emerging economies, the proportion is estimated at 10% but

in many of the former Soviet republics it can be as high as 20%. In wealthy

countries, with strong regulatory mechanisms, counterfeits account for less

than 1% of the market value, but 50% of illegal Internet sales are

counterfeit.

“The impact on people's lives behind these figures is devastating,”

said Dr Howard Zucker, WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Technology

and Pharmaceuticals. “Whether rich or poor, many patients trustingly taking

medicines may end up sicker or die. In addition, precious resources spent on

these medicines go to waste.”

The legal systems of most countries do not consider the counterfeiting of

medicines a more serious crime than counterfeiting luxury items such as

handbags or watches. Their laws are designed mainly to protect trademarks

than people’s health. In some industrialized countries, counterfeiting t-

shirts receives a harsher punishment than counterfeiting medicines.

WHO and its IMPACT partners will present guiding principles for model

legislation to help countries adapt their laws to the gravity of the

crime. "A major objective is for countries to agree that counterfeiting is a

crime against human security and incorporate that principle into their laws,"

added Dr Zucker.

Legislation, regulation and enforcement also provide the basis for

dealing with the sale of counterfeit medicines on the Internet, which is

already rife in industrialized countries and is growing in a number of

emerging economies in Latin America and Asia.

Some Internet pharmacies are completely legal operations, set up to offer

clients convenience and savings. They require patient prescriptions and

deliver medications from government licensed facilities. Other Internet

pharmacies operate illegally, selling medications without prescriptions and

using unapproved or counterfeit products. These rogue Internet pharmacies

are operated internationally, they have no registered business address and

sell products that have an unknown or unclear origin.

"This area needs more work," said Dr Valerio Reggi, WHO Coordinator of

IMPACT. "But the message for now is: do not take the risk of buying your

medicines from unknown sources, such as the Internet. If you must buy from

the Internet, ensure that the website is that of a pharmacy you know and

trust."

In the technology area, WHO has launched a challenge to technology

providers to come up with new technologies or adapt existing ones to prevent

counterfeiting and detect and track counterfeits on markets and on web

sites.

WHO is currently looking at proposals from three mobile telephone

companies to apply their technologies to check the authenticity of medical

products. DNA-based technologies, nanotechnology and other approaches will

be assessed by IMPACT in the first quarter of 2007.

To improve communication, a small group has been created to continuously

update global data on medical counterfeiting and share the information with

IMPACT partners. In addition, advocacy campaigns including public service

announcements, short descriptive films and other awareness raising materials

have begun targeting different professional sectors likely to come across the

problem of counterfeits. Organizations representing health professionals and

consumers are supporting these initiatives.

Three countries with a high proportion of counterfeits have already

started tackling the problem with IMPACT’s support. Indonesia and Mali have

begun wide communication campaigns to educate the general public on the

dangers of counterfeits and to dissuade people seeking treatment from buying

on the black market. Vietnam is establishing mechanisms to coordinate more

effectively between regulatory, police, customs and provincial authorities in

order to improve detection of counterfeit medicines and counterfeiters.

“It is clear that action in a single sphere, like legislation or

technology is not enough to deal effectively with the problem,” said Dr

Reggi. “This is why we need to act on five axes -– legal, enforcement,

regulatory, technology and communication. It’s also why we need to

coordinate action at a global level. But the fact that individual countries

are already taking this on bodes well for the future.”

By the end of 2007 IMPACT aims to have all 193 WHO Member States formally

collaborating to stem global and national counterfeiting of medical products.

For more facts and figures on medical counterfeiting, see:

(login: impact1; password: impact2)

http://www.who.int/medicines/services/counterfeit/impact/ImpactF_S/en/index.ht

ml

For more details on IMPACT and a full list of partners see:

http://www.who.int/medicines/services/counterfeit/faqs/count_q-

a/en/index.html

http://www.who.int/medicines/services/counterfeit/en/index.html

For more information, please contact:

Daniela Bagozzi,

WHO Media Communications

Tel: +41-22-791-4544

Mobile: +41-79-475-5490

Email: bagozzid@who.int

All press releases, fact sheets and other WHO media material may be found

at http://www.who.int .

Source: World Health Organization
collection