Prescription Drug Counterfeiting

The pharma industry loses about $20 billion annually to counterfeiters.

Artesunate, a major weapon against malaria, is widely counterfeited. Researchers have found that up to 33 percent of the artesunate sold in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam contained no active ingredients. Of 30 medicines named in a list of drugs especially susceptible to counterfeiting, 23 are used in treating HIV/AIDS and cancer.

Counterfeiting of prescription drugs is a fast-growing menace to public health, to the efficacy of medical treatments, to the reputation and profits of pharma companies, and to government law-enforcement agencies. It is a new, fertile field for organised crime on a significant scale.

D&MD's Prescription Drug Counterfeiting report is an up-to-date analysis of the Rx counterfeiting situation which benefits from several information sources including the Third Global Anti-Counterfeiting Forum, held immediately prior to completion of the report. Report content includes statistics and case studies, and describes the array of countermeasures being developed to foil drug counterfeiters, including both high and low tech approaches.

The report describes the strategies used by counterfeiters; how and where they produce their drug products, how they infiltrate the supply chain, which countries are major sources of counterfeit drugs and the international anti-counterfeiting strategies now being put in place.

This report provides a unique examination and analysis of major global pharma markets and gives a realistic description of the capabilities of the counterfeiters, and in describing new and emerging anti-counterfeiting technologies.

Companies stand to lose significant business as a result of counterfeiting, both in terms of reduced sales and in erosion of trust among the medical profession, pharmacists and the public.

The main opportunities, for pharma companies, include:

Recognising the scale and extent of the problem

Quantifying its impact on their own business

Obtaining a broad perspective on the range of anti-counterfeiting strategies available

Appraising the relevance of available technologies to their own situation

Published: May, 2007

PDF Format
Table of Contents

Price