Egyptian Counterfeit Drugs Up 20%
Egyptian officials say local counterfeit drug trade including life saving medications has peaked in a year with an estimation of LE 1billion.
Al-Gomhuriya reports that experts are predicting a 10% growth in the counterfeit medicine market for 2010.
Local pharmacists are concerned saying, “The sale of counterfeit medical drugs has risen.”
Abdul Aziz Hanafi, a Cairo pharmacists, blamed “back street factories owned by criminals” that collect high profits at low penalties, as people buy counterfeit medications with dubious curative abilities.
Egyptian pharmacists are asking for track and trace systems, tamper resistant packaging, as well as unique coding.
Health care workers are concerned, explained Cairo pharmacist Mohamed Magdi. “The fake drug has a low effectiveness or the concentration [that] may be wrong. Other times, the product may have none of the ingredients that it claims to contain.”