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Sunday, Dec 23, 2007
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Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Sunday, Dec 23, 2007 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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Pharmaceuticals Marketing - Piracy Industry & Economy - Economic Offences Fake drugs across the price spectrum: WHO study
P.T. Jyothi Datta Mumbai, Dec. 22 It is not just highly priced medicines that are prone to counterfeiting. Medicines priced less than Rs 20 are also common targets for counterfeiting, says a recent World Health Organisation (WHO)-funded study that surveyed the extent of counterfeit medicines in the country. Counterfeits are found in medicines priced below Rs 20, like anti-allergy medicine cetirizine, says Dr D.B.A. Narayana of Delhi Pharmaceutical Trust (DPT), a body mandated by the Mashelkar Committee on spurious drugs (2003) to undertake the study. While counterfeits may or may not be qualitatively similar to the original medicine, it is damaging to the consumer who believes he/she is buying the original medicine, at a certain price. Also, it hurts the company making the original drug, as counterfeits sell under the same name but may not have the desired effect, he explains. The study found that anti-histamines or anti-allergy medicines, anti-infectives and anti-cancer segments are afflicted by counterfeit concerns. Also, counterfeits were a problem in States “perceived” to have an active regulatory authority and those where the regulatory authority is weak. So it was of equal concern in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The study was jointly undertaken by DPT, along with SearPharm Forum, a forum of pharma associations of South East Asia and Apothecaries Foundation. Professional investigators posed as consumers and fanned out across the country, collecting 10,743 samples from 234 retail outlets in 15 States. Samples were visually identified as being counterfeit suspects and about 20-odd per cent were sent for testing at Government accredited labs. SearPharm’s Mr P.D. Sheth says that the study was limited to retail channels and did not cover rural areas, hospitals and exports. And yet, the incidence of counterfeit medicines was found to be about 3.1 per cent. The study estimates that about Rs 1,000 crore, of the over Rs 31,000 crore domestic sales of medicines in 2006, are counterfeit suspects. And about 70 per cent of these sales are from the retail market. The WHO’s Dr K. Weerasuriya said the scope of the study could be expanded by other stake-holders, he observed. It’s fake, it’s also grey and it’s Viagra Ads and drugs More Stories on : Pharmaceuticals | Piracy | Economic Offences | Standards & Benchmarks | Regulatory Bodies & Rulings
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