International and Saudi warnings against fake and counterfeit drugs

Despite the fact that this is not a new phenomenon, thousands of people have died as a result of using counterfeit drugs to treat curtain illnesses. Yet all international initiatives are not enough to stop this epidemic which threatens the health and lives of patients around the world.

The Vise-President of the Saudi Food and Drug Association, Doctor Saleh Ba-Wazeer considered any medication that is unregistered in the Ministry of Health and is not subject to a specific pricing system is regarded as one with unknown components and is probably counterfeited.

Dr. Ba-Wazeer added in a statement: "Counterfeited drugs are a global issue and the Saudi market faces this problem as it is a big market. We do not have an accurate estimate for the size of the counterfeit drugs market, but it gets higher in poor countries as it reaches 50% of the total drug market in Africa."

Dr. Ba-Wazeer pointed out that counterfeited drugs pose a threat to the lives of consumers and pharmaceutical companies with original trademarks, which in turn reflects negatively on the national economy. The Saudi Food and Drug Association has requested all drug companies to report any counterfeited drugs and provide SFDA with samples along with the necessary documentations.

In response to this, the Public Relations Manager of Pfizer International, Doctor Magdi Mohsen said in his speech at the First Arab Forum for Consumer Protection: "The problem and the crime these frauds commit is they try to represent their products with the same virtue and respect that other products acquire. Drug fraud does not only occur in innovative and newly founded medications, but also Erectile Dysfunction (ED) drugs where fake medications come in various forms, they could contain the active ingredient or parts of it or even harmful substances, packed and sealed to appear original."

"Although the size of counterfeit drugs in the international market is not clear, the World Health Organization estimates that it reaches around 8% of the drugs market and it rises to around 40%-50% of the total drugs market in Africa and Latin America. If we were to adapt these statistics to the Saudi market with its 2 billion dollar drug market, then it is believed that counterfeited drugs are about $160-200m," added Dr. Mohsen.

India, China, Pakistan, Far East of Asia, Brazil, Mexico and Chile are the main countries that produce counterfeited drugs, Dr. Mohsen has pointed out a number of incidents, among them was finding a large amount fake Viagra sold in Malaysia and Mexico in forged packages with forged Pfizer trademarks seals.

Concluding his speech, Dr. Mohsen stressed on the importance of applying measurements to control this issue, raising the public's awareness to purchase medication only from known sources (pharmacies) and to declare the names of individuals & companies involved in trading fake drugs. Trading medication through the internet and free ports should stop and all concerned parties such as manufacturers, distributors, doctors, pharmacists and associations should cooperate to combat consumer fraud.