UN Secretary-General urges global response to combat fake medicines

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged collective action to protect people from falling victim to the “insidious and illicit” trade in counterfeit medicines, a problem affecting all countries but which hits the poor particularly hard.
“We must join forces to fight this global crime for the sake of international public health,” Mr. Ban told the “Call of [...]

TIME: The Trade in Counterfeit Medicines

TIME Magazine recently published an interesting article on the trade in counterfeit medicines and an initiative fostered by former French President Jacques Chirac to combat this epidemic.  The proposed Cotonou declaration would be the first step of a worldwide campaign aimed at raising awareness of the problem and persuading governments to impose tougher [...]

Counterfeit medicines in China

An interesting article from the Canadian Medical Association Journal about the production and dangers of counterfeit medicines, with a specific focus on China.
China’s booming counterfeit medicine trade
It was a cringe-worthy moment for China when 600 000 counterfeit antimalarial tablets were intercepted by the Nigerian government in June. Produced and shipped from China, they bore an [...]

Malaria parasite’s resistance to top drug grows

Artemisinin, derived from the sweet wormwood shrub, is the best drug available but misuse and over-prescription have led to the parasite becoming resistant to it. Counterfeit antimalarial drugs have also been a major cause of deaths.

Counterfeit malaria drugs kill thousands in Africa

MediaGlobal (a global news agency, based in the United Nations Secretariat) recently reported on the WHO’s increasing efforts to combat counterfeit medications in Africa — and the deadly impact of these fakes.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has stepped up their efforts to combat the creation and distribution of counterfeit malaria pills in Africa.  WHO estimates [...]

Innovative mobile application helps fight fake drugs

mPedigree is a mobile application that allows users to text-message at no cost, a quality-authentication code found on the packaging of anti-Malarial and other medications to a provisioned mobile shortcode in order to guard against counterfeit drugs believed to be responsible for an alarming number of deaths, especially in the developing world.
With the mounting cost [...]

UNDOC report on counterfeit medicines in Africa

Angie Drakulich blogged yesterday about a new report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which highlights that West Africa has “increasingly become the target of a range of counterfeit medications, including antibiotics, antiretroviral drugs and medicines to fight malaria and tuberculosis.”
The high demand for these types of drugs in West Africa and [...]

EU: Seizures of counterfeit imports double in 2008

The European Union said seizures of fake branded goods more than doubled last year from 2007.  Customs authorities seized some 178 million counterfeit goods last year, compared with 79 million a year earlier.
Some 20 million of these items were potentially dangerous to health and safety, officials said, because fake toys, medicines and electronics don’t meet [...]

Online pharmacies and patient safety

A recent article by the San Diego Union-Tribune raises concerns over online pharmacies.  According to the piece, a vast majority of online pharmacies may not be compliant with US Federal standards.   Carmen Catizone, executive director of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), was quoted as saying, “We have found that 92 percent of [...]

Counterfeits and drug resistance: the global concern of malaria

Many health experts are concerned that the growing resistance to artemisinin drugs in western Cambodia could result in a repeat of the fate of chloroquine, which became largely ineffective. Counterfeit drugs can contain insufficient amounts of active ingredient, failing to cure the disease parasite and allowing it to mutate and resist the drug.  With half [...]