Policy/Enforcement News

The Cambodian Ministry of Health reported a 92% decrease in the number of illegal pharmacies nationwide and a 71% fewer unlicensed health clinics over the past year, on December 22, 2010.

The European Union ambassadors approved an agreement to regulate medicines sold over the internet. The agreement will create regulation intended to protect legal suppliers of medicine.

1.2 million vials of substandard drugs have been impounded in Tanzania by the Food and Drug Authority (TFDA).

A medicine delivery driver was abducted and robbed at gunpoint while delivering medications to pharmacies in West Baltimore on December 13th. At a routine delivery stop at 9 a.m. in the 2000 block of W. Pratt St., outside the tiny Westside Pharmacy and Wellness Center, in West Baltimore, MD, three thieves forced the driver, at…

The European Parliament and the Council are negotiating a directive on counterfeit medicines intended to strengthen law enforcement. The agreement’s provisions are not yet public, but it is reported that sanctions and unified safety-mechanisms were on the table. In addition, the directive proposes the requirement of anti-counterfeiting technologies, like packaging serial numbers or seals upon…

Japan’s Patent Office (JPO) announced an “Anti-Counterfeiting Campaign” on December 10, in cooperation with the Intellectual Property Policy Headquarters and related ministries to raise public awareness of the risk of counterfeit products.

Last year 73% of fake medicines seized at European borders were routed through the United Arab Emirates, says the European Commission.

Attorney General Eric Holder spoke at a White House forum on consumer health and safety risks related to counterfeit goods in Washington, DC on December 14, 2010. After addressing and thanking the organizers, he said, “All of us must do more to ensure the health and safety of our citizens, to protect intellectual property rights,…

The Global Fund to Fight Aids is inviting agencies in developing countries to pursue and stem drug thefts, by joining to together to share information ,as well as procurement and distribution capacities.

The Fondation Chirac held a roundtable on counterfeit medications at the two day conference, European Development Days (EDD) in Brussels on December 7th, entitled “How to Fight False Medicines.”

The panelists discussed cooperative measures to strengthen countries administrative capacities, build better health care facilities and raise awareness that fake drugs are dangerous to their countries’ peoples.

Said African entrepreneur and philanthropist Mo Ibrahim, “This is worse than drugs. People who buy heroin or cocaine, at least they know what they are buying, they are exercising their decision-making. But someone who has a heart or a kidney condition who buys fake medicine – this is an attempt at murder.”