Every year more and more people become victims of counterfeit drugs. From 2013, the European Union, in the fight against counterfeit medicines, will label medical products that are under the special control of the sanitary security services.
Counterfeiters
Recently, in the report of the International Institute for the Fight against Counterfeit Medicines, terrible data were released: at least 700 thousand people die every year on the planet due to fake medicines. And this statistic only applies to those with malaria or tuberculosis. What can we say about the rest of the possible victims? Many pseudo-drugs cause various illnesses or even death. The World Health Organization (WHO) proposes to try criminals who counterfeit medicines not as fraudsters, but as murderers who deliberately encroach on people's lives and health.
Interpol regularly carries out operations to seize counterfeit drugs sold over the Internet. Periodically, millions (!) Of packages of medicines are seized and hundreds of swindlers suspected of making and selling counterfeit products are detained. The profits from the sale of confiscated medicines are estimated at billions of US dollars.
The situation in the market of counterfeit pharmaceutical products is further complicated by the fact that now instead of medicine, poison can be bought via the Internet. In just one check, Interpol recently closed about three hundred criminal sites, and for good reason: it is online stores that sell a huge amount of dangerous "drugs". WHO experts have calculated that more than 50% of the drugs distributed through the Network are counterfeit. According to experts, the market for counterfeit medicines is 80.5 billion (!) Dollars. Profits from this "business" sometimes reach 500 percent!
Everywhere fakes
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Now about 50 states are fighting the illegal sale of drugs, which do not bring sick people either relief or recovery. The facts that unfold over time are monstrous. In Vietnam, for example, 64% of malaria drugs have no active ingredients at all. And in Nigeria, 70% of all drugs sold in the country are made from who knows where and from what. In Eastern Europe, fake vitamins, potency remedies, erection enhancers, and enzymes are often sold.
Massive counterfeits of antibiotics and drugs for the treatment of cancer, antidepressants, drugs for stabilizing cholesterol levels, anti-epilepsy, and weight loss are also dangerous. Even in such prosperous countries as Switzerland, there are counterfeit medicines. In just one year, the control authorities of the Alpine republic stopped fifty thousand attempts to import fake drugs. After all, the prices for medicines there are very high. So they bring all kinds of rubbish to Switzerland.
No harm, no benefit
Almost half of counterfeit medicines are produced in India, Singapore, Angola, other countries in Asia and Africa, and about 35% in Brazil, Germany, Greece, and Great Britain. It got to the point that the Made in India inscription on the packaging of the drug began to worry vigilant doctors and patients.
Often people try to buy a cheaper analog of an effective remedy in pharmacies. And it's good if the buyer comes across a dummy like calcium gluconate from simple chalk. Yes, fakes are not necessarily harmful. Many of them do not contain toxic substances, but there is nothing useful in them either. There is a known case when a drug that was presented as a remedy for diabetes caused the death of about 2 thousand people in France in 2009 and was withdrawn from the market.
Russian scope
As for Russia, our situation on the pharmaceutical market is no better than the global one. According to the Ministry of Health, antibiotics (47% of the total volume are fakes) are the most popular among "fake pills", in second place are hormonal drugs (11%), then analgesics, antifungals and drugs for the treatment of disorders of the gastrointestinal tract (according to 7%). Currently, about two-thirds of the counterfeit medicines we sell are produced in Russia.
Sometimes, during inspections of some of our pharmacies, up to 20% of counterfeits are detected - this is every fifth medicine. And although fakes in 85% of cases differ from the originals only in packaging, and are identical in composition to them, in the remaining 15% of drugs there are significant changes in the components of the drugs. The Criminal Code of Russia provides for punishment for counterfeiting medicines, but so far the production of counterfeits is gaining momentum. Paradoxically, the world oversees the smuggling of cigarettes much more closely than the market for illegal and counterfeit drugs. Legislation in this industry is poorly developed. Now, however, the countries of Europe and America are joining forces under the Medicrime convention, aimed at combating counterfeit medicines.
However, all the same, as they say, trust, but verify. Be healthy and … alert!
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century № 1-2. Author: Petro Dvoretsky