The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA)'s new report on 'falsified medicines' praises the initiatives taken by the drug authorities in India during the last some years to control the spread of falsified medicines.

“An increasing number of governments (including China, India, Brazil, Russia and Nigeria) has, through their actions, recognised the need for effective measures against medicines falsification, which involves deliberately misrepresenting products’ origins and circumventing regulatory controls designed to assure treatment safety and effectiveness,” the report said.

The new study “Falsified Medicines and the Global Public’s Health” was commissioned recently by the IFPMA and was independently prepared by researchers at the University College London (UCL) School of Pharmacy and the international research agency Matrix Insight. “Recent research suggests that progress has been achieved, but additional surveillance-backed, systematically-supported and globally-coordinated efforts could do more to protect against falsification and improve health,” said David Taylor, Professor of Pharmaceutical and Public Health Policy at the UCL School of Pharmacy.

The new report focuses on the need for high quality information about the scale of harm caused by medicine falsification. Past studies found that 15 to 50 per cent of anti-malarial treatments purchased in parts of Asia and Africa to be counterfeit, and data overall suggest that falsified products may account for nearly one percent of global medicine sales. While people in less developed communities are at greater risk than in richer ones, falsified therapies are regularly reported in virtually every country from the US and EU to the poorest sub-Saharan nations. They also affect every major therapeutic category.

The report finds that all relevant stakeholders should be able and willing to participate in appropriate preventive activities at all levels. The new UCL/Matrix analysis emphasizes the need for more collaborative action between all stakeholders involved in better medicines use. At worst, unresolved disputes between vested interests may cost lives which responsible global action could have saved.

“This is a crime against patients and poses a public health risk that can lead to treatment failure, antibiotic resistance, extended illness, disability and even death,” said Eduardo Pisani, IFPMA director general. “Reducing this threat requires heightened public awareness everywhere and coordinated actions – by key stakeholders such as governments, NGOs, international organisations, pharmacists, patients, and industry - to protect the integrity of medicines and the well-being of those who take them.”