The dangerous rise of fake medicines

Counterfeit medicine is one of the world’s biggest problems and according to the World Health Organization (WHO), no country is untouched by this issue. You’ve likely heard about the widespread distribution of fake anti-malarial medicine in Africa, but the problem runs much deeper: it event affects both therapeutic and lifestyle medications.

Before we can even begin to address the problem, it’s important to understand what counts as counterfeit medicine and how prevalent it is worldwide. Unfortunately, the problem is difficult to track, and despite the abundance of information at hand, it is still an incomplete picture of the real problem. Let’s examine what we know.

What counts as counterfeit medicine?

The WHO lists three items that count as counterfeit medicine:

• Substandard medicine, which are products that either fail to meet quality standards, specifications, or both;
• Unregistered/unlicensed medicine, which have not undergone evaluation and/or received approval from the National or Regional Regulatory body wherein the products are being distributed; and
• Falsified medicine, which are products that deliberately misrepresent their identity, composition, or source.

A growing global concern

According to the Interpol, although it is “impossible to quantify the extent of the problem,” they estimate that in some areas of Asia, Latin America and Africa, counterfeit medicine form up to 30% of the market. With the global pharmaceutical industry being worth $1.105 trillion as of 2016, 30% of three continents is a very lucrative and dangerous business.

The problem doesn’t stop there. The WHO estimates that 1 in 10 medical products in low- and middle-income countries are counterfeit — and, like the Interpol, they acknowledge that this only reflects the cases that we do know about. The WHO admitted that they were relying on a mere 1,500 reports received since 2013 through its Global Surveillance and Monitoring System for substandard & falsified medical products. A 2018 study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill pegs this more at 13% — and in Africa, the number rises to 19%, with anti-malaria medicine being the most commonly falsified medical product.

Other than anti-malarial medication, antibiotics also made the list of most falsified medication.

As for the top sources of counterfeit medication, two countries hold the majority of the counterfeit market: China and India. The two countries combined of counterfeit medication around the world.

The problem of counterfeiting poses serious health risks. In 2008, there was a massive nationwide recall of heparin, a blood thinner, in the US because the active ingredient was replaced with a cheaper substance, causing adverse reactions in patients taking the medication. The counterfeit heparin, which was imported from China, is believed to have caused 81 deaths.

A long, challenging battle

Despite frequent and aggressive crackdowns on fraudsters producing or exporting counterfeit medical products, the fight looks more like an uphill battle. This is because the problem goes beyond fraudsters supplying these products — it also has to do with the environment in which patients and consumers acquire their medication.

One of the main issues related to this is people’s constant search for cheaper medication. Pharmaceutical companies have priced antibiotics so high that people are willing to try cheaper — but not necessarily tested or proven legitimate — alternatives, giving counterfeiters a market to work with. There’s also the issue of complex distribution systems, which make it very difficult to track sources down the distribution chain. Medicine passes through so many hands before reaching the shelves at your local pharmacy that counterfeit medication can enter the distribution chain unnoticed at any given point.

While each country has legislation in place combating counterfeit medical products, implementation and sanctions continue to be issues. The problem ranges from lack of resources and capabilities, human or financial, for the regulatory bodies; porous borders, which paves the way for unapproved, untested, and unregulated drugs to make

Learn how SparX can solve that problem by visiting our website. You can also find out more about counterfeit products and our solution against them here. Plus, you can watch how we’re taking the SparX blockchain platform to fight fraudulent food and medicines by watching our video below:

Want to know more and get in touch with us? Join us on these platforms:

• Telegram Official Community: https://t.me/SparXChainCommunity
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/sparxchain/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/sparxchain