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 .