The emergence of fake medicines in the market has been on the rise globally in recent years, as shown by a recent study by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the research, the trade in fake medicines today accounts for as much as 10 percent of the total global medicine trade, and profits from counterfeit medicines far exceed even those from drug sales. More precisely, according to WHO estimates, one in ten medicines is counterfeit worldwide, and the exact amount of profit in this case is still unknown.
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The danger is underscored by an example from Nigeria, where in 1995, 50,000 people were vaccinated with counterfeit meningitis vaccine, resulting in 2,500 deaths. About 190 children died in Nigeria, Haiti, and India between 1990 and 1998 because counterfeit cough syrups contained diethylene glycol instead of the auxiliary substance propylene glycol.
The frightening aspect of the whole story is that fake medicines can also cause death. The residents of Africa are most exposed to the dangerous consequences of taking fake medicines. Therefore, it is not surprising that a company aimed at stopping fake medicines and their harmful effects was established right there. The company mPedigree from Ghana has decided to protect citizens from this plague. This company has developed a mobile application that reads codes on medicines. The company’s chief strategist, Selorm Branttie, told Deutsche Welle that the application works by scanning a code from the medicine, which is sent as an SMS to a specific number, and then within five to seven seconds, the user receives confirmation of whether it is a genuine or fake medicine.
The company mPedigree operates in 12 African countries and has reported that so far, 75 million people have benefited from their application, but the safety of taking medicines in Africa is still questionable.
Africa Under Attack from Deadly Fake Medicines
According to a study by the World Health Organization, between 72,000 and 267,000 people die annually in Africa due to taking fake malaria medicines.
When Deutsche Welle journalists asked passersby on the streets of Accra, the capital of Ghana, whether they could distinguish fake from genuine medicines, they most often received the answer that they could not see the difference. Only in Ghana, 30 percent of medicines sold are fake, according to WHO research.
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– The governments of African countries have no chance of successfully fighting drug traffickers. The reason is the lack of resources, both financial and human. There is also an unprepared judiciary that has no answers to this challenge. On the other hand, those involved in drug trafficking are smiling at the prospect of quick wealth, said Pernette Bourdillon Esteve from WHO to Deutsche Welle.
Ghana is indeed threatened when it comes to fake medicines. And how is Croatia fighting this plague that is on the rise globally, and is there any danger at all?
HALMED: Buying medicines on the black market can be very dangerous
– In Croatia, there has never been a recorded occurrence of fake medicines in authorized supply chains, that is, in the legal distribution network consisting of public and private pharmacies, hospital pharmacies, drug wholesalers, and specialized retail stores for the sale of medicines, emphasized the Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices (HALMED), adding that on the other hand, on the black market in Croatia (illegal imports, unauthorized sales points, classifieds, electronic mail), medicines of inadequate quality and counterfeits have been recorded.
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Since counterfeit medicines can seriously jeopardize the health of their users, this agency warns that medicines, for safety reasons, should only be purchased at authorized sales points where verified and approved medicines are available.
The Internet Accelerated the Spread of Fake Medicines
About 50 percent of fake medicines are sold through websites, according to WHO research. At the global level, there is a higher level of oversight by responsible institutions such as the police and customs, and the number of seized medicines and closed websites increases every year. For example, Interpol leads and coordinates Operation ‘Pangea’, carried out by police, customs, national agencies, and other regulatory authorities for medicines worldwide to combat the sale of counterfeit medicines.
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As highlighted by HALMED, in the ‘Pangea IX’ operation conducted last year, about 400 individuals involved in these illegal activities were arrested, and approximately 25 million potentially dangerous medicines worth over 325 million kuna were seized. Additionally, the operation discovered and shut down 3,584 websites associated with the sale of fake medicines. However, the internet cannot be stopped, and this greatly contributes to the accelerated spread of fake medicines, which will be difficult to curb.
