Russia vs. fake drugs: an international threat
by Nathan Gray at 25/02/2013 19:01
The Moscow News
Health
The most significant risk area in counterfeit medicine or medical supplies is the danger they can pose to health or even life. Defective products, from machines to syringes to condoms, can fail, and medications can have either too high a dose of the active ingredient, none at all, or a different ingredient altogether - not excluding poisons.
The World Health Organization outlines four categories of what it describes as Spurious, Falsified, Falsely labeled or Counterfeit medicine (SFFC), including the three types above and products labeled with the wrong manufacturer or country of origin.
Counterfeiting operations can be highly sophisticated in replicating authentic packaging and instructions, making it even more difficult to distinguish between genuine and counterfeit products. Interpol says that often only laboratory tests can definitively confirm fake drugs.
The situation varies according to country, with effective regulation and market supervision in North America and Europe keeping the proportion of illegal products down. Still, Western economies are not immune: the WHO estimates 1 percent of supplies in the developed world are counterfeit, 10 percent globally, and up to 30 percent in the developing world.
The expansion of the Internet and commerce online has contributed to the growing problems of counterfeit medications, as supplies tend to be cheaper and prescription drugs available without having to consult a doctor.
According to polls cited in the "Pharmpiracy in Russia" report, 40 percent of Russians consider themselves victims of poor-quality or fake drugs. The first time counterfeit medications were officially identified in Russia was in 1997, when a stock of rheopolyglucin, an anticoagulant, was proven to be fake.
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