Earlier this week, I talked about India's opposition to IMPACT's proposed definition of a counterfeit medicine. Indian "experts" claimed it would hurt their generic drug industry's exports, and I asked just who these "experts" were protecting if the IMPACT's focus was only non-legitimate producers.
Read MoreOften understanding a problem begins with a definition. The World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), meets each May to discuss public health issues and determine future WHO policies. This year, WHO's constituted International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT) introduced a resolution to update WHO's definition of a counterfeit medicine. IMPACT proposed changing the definition from "deliberately and fraudulently" mislabeling a medicine's identity and source to the "false representation" of a medical product's identity, history or source.
Read MoreRyan Haight. Marcia Bergeron. They paid with their wallets for diverted and counterfeit drugs. They also paid with their lives.
Read MoreMANILA, Philippines — Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) seized hundreds of counterfeit anti-hypertension and pain-relieving medicine in raids conducted in Manila and Caloocan City recently. Raided were Acebedo General Hospital on General Luis Street, Bagbaguin, Caloocan City, and Longlife Pharmaceutical Inc. on Benavidez Street, Binondo, Manila. By Tina G. Santos 12 July…
Read MoreEarlier this month, the Los Angels Times published a story that explored the extremely profitable relationship between spammers and drug counterfeiters. For some time now, spammers have made money by sending countless emails to the public and then charging the credit cards of those who responded for products which never existed. In some case, the spammers sold that credit card information to other criminals.
Read MoreOn a daily basis, many individuals unknowingly risk death or serious injury to their health by taking counterfeit drugs. As executive director of the Pharmaceutical Security Institute (PSI), I see first-hand how counterfeiters thrive in countries where the anti-counterfeiting laws are weak; the drug regulatory agencies are underfunded and understaffed; and legal sanctions are ineffective.
Read MoreIf Congress and the FDA truly want to avoid another deadly incident of failed drug safety, our policy makers must take this opportunity to address the other vulnerabilities threatening the safety of our prescription drugs. The Partnership for Safe Medicines has developed three core principles to support quality assurance programs and establish a drug distribution…
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