COUNTERFEIT MEDICINE

Dr. Indrajeet Kumar

Department of Community Medicine

M.G.M Medical College, Jamshedpur

Definition: “Drugs/Medicines produced with an intention to

cheat a person are called counterfeit drugs.”

This includes/involves:-

mislabelling (includes false expiry date).

no active ingredients

a wrong ingredient

or correct ingredient in an insufficient quantity.

Sub-standard Medicineare genuine medicines produced by

legitimate (in accordance to law) that does not meet the quality

specifications that the producer says they meet.

e.g: they may contain less or more active ingredient than

written on package. This may not be an intention to cheat but

may be due to problems with the manufacturing process.

Most frequently counterfeited medicines are the expensive ones

eg: the hormones,

costly antibiotics,

anticancer drugs,

anti- tuberculosis drugs, etc.

Extent of the Problem:-

In global market it is 10%

Developing counties 25%

In some countries it is upto 50%

Effect: therapeutic failure or drug resistance,

in some cases death

Factors encouraging counterfeiting of drugs:

A profitable business.

Absence of strong punishable legislation

Great price difference between identical products.

Internet based sales of pharmaceutical products.

Action to address sub-standard and Counterfeit medicines:

Strong legislation against manufacturing and sale of

counterfeit drugs.

Use of MARKERS of authenticity e.g:SMScode on the back

of wrapper, QR code.

Surveillance for fake and sub-standard drugs.

Educating patients and health workers.