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Chapter 5 - Global Trends in Drug Counterfeiting
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19 CHAPTER 5 GLOBAL TRENDS IN DRUG COUNTERFEITING Counterfeiting of all products poses a great danger to every society. Almost all brands of commodities traded in international commerce are counterfeited. In most cases, it involves perfect copying of the original product. Some commonly known counterfeits are currencies, designer wristwatches, bags, perfumes, clothes, jewellery, pirated books and other stationery, audiocassettes, CDs, disks, diskettes, tyres, batteries and electrical products. These types of counterfeit usually cause economic losses, but there are others that have consequences that are more serious and require greater expertise to detect. Counterfeit medicine, motor spare parts and aircrafts fall into the category of products which not only constitute economic loss, but can also claim lives. Years back, thousands of defective Firestone brand of Bridgestone tyres were linked to several fatal car accidents in the USA, leading to a massive recall of the product in 2000 and 2001. On September 8, 1989, a Convair 580 airliner disintegrated over the North Sea, killing its 50 passengers and 5 crew members. Investigations revealed that this fatal crash was caused by counterfeit parts. It was specifically caused by substandard bolts and bushings, which led to the tail of the plane shearing off during flight.10 Counterfeiting is not a new phenomenon. However, it is now fast growing, and the effects are becoming rather alarming. Industry data show that 5–7 per cent of world trade, valued at about US$280 billion, is lost to counterfeiting, and the problem is increasing yearly.11 In the Information Technology industry, it is estimated that about US$20 billion in products move through unauthorised channels annually. In the USA alone, losses to the spare parts industry due to counterfeits are estimated at about US$3 billion. The losses in some parts of the Middle East are up to 30 per cent of the entire market size.12 According to the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI), annual losses to piracy are estimated at about US$4 billion, while the Business Software Alliance estimates their losses at about US$11 billion annually.13 20 The War Against Counterfeit Medicine Counterfeitting of Pharmaceutical Products The appearance of counterfeit medicines in international commerce was first mentioned as a problem at the WHO Conference of Experts on Rational Drug Use in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1985.14 Since then, public awareness of the problem has grown. Counterfeiting of pharmaceutical products presents the worst form of man’s inhumanity to man. It involves a transnational criminal network often controlled by a cabal of highly affluent and influential persons. It has far-reaching public health consequences. “In 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) determined global sales of counterfeit drugs to be about US$32 billion – 10 per cent of all medicines sold worldwide. It not only costs the pharmaceutical industry about US$46 billion a year, but also endangers the lives of millions of people.”15 Even though drug counterfeiting is a global problem, developing countries are more affected by this menace. The poor bear the brunt because they live under unhealthy conditions, feed poorly and are consequently more predisposed to ailments. Understandably, women and children are the most vulnerable. Lack of access to medicines has been identified as a problem in most developing countries, but access to counterfeit medicines is worse than lack of access. A considerable number of the poor nations of the world are found in Africa and they lack the capacity to deal with the problems of counterfeit medicines. This worsens the existing burden of poverty, diseases, lack of basic infrastructure, wars and other hardships. Developed countries have, however, started to experience increasing reports of counterfeit drugs, fuelled by purchase of drugs via the Internet. “Internet sites that conceal their actual physical addresses sell counterfeits in over 50 per cent of cases.”16 Recent findings show that the range is “from less than one per cent of sales in developed countries (but growing), to more than 10 per cent in developing countries, depending on the geographical area”.17 Between 1984 and 1999, the WHO received 771 confidential and public reports of counterfeit drugs from different countries.18 Twenty-two per cent of these reports came from industrialized countries, while the rest came from developing countries. Between January 1999 and October 2000, 46 confidential reports of counterfeit drugs were received by WHO from 20 countries. About 60 per cent of these reports came from developing countries while the remaining 40 per cent were from developed countries.19 This goes a long...