In the world of pharmaceutical drugs, people have learned how to make millions off of just a few milligramms.But there is a secret war going on. In this war, big pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer are fighting against fake drugs. These counterfeit medicines have proved to be more fatal than not consuming any medicine at all.
Pfizer, which is a well-known name in the world of medicine, is at the front of this fight. Over 116 countries have faked 103 of its drugs. This astounding number shows how big and widespread the fake drug trade is around the world.
Pharmaceutical companies that are doing things right are in a tough spot. Not only do they risk losing sales to counterfeiters, but they also have to protect their supply lines and put in a lot of work to stop this illegal business.
Why no medicine>fake medicine?
The biggest problem with fake drugs is that people who don’t know better end up taking things that not only don’t help their health problems, but can also be very bad for their health. According to the Novartis in Society Report, 2019, forensic tests done by the pharmaceutical industry on suspect samples showed that 90% of the time, fake drugs were a major threat to patients’ health.
Estimates are shocking: between 72,000 and 169,000 children may die each year from pneumonia after taking fake drugs. Also, WHO revealed in 2017 that fake antimalarial drugs are thought to be responsible for an extra 116,000 deaths.
Major Emergence from … and studies
China and India are the main places where these fake drugs come from. What’s really frightening is that these fake medicines often contain things like printer ink, paint, and even arsenic (fatal and poisonous).
Rahman et al. (2018) performed a study in which they looked at 48 cases where fake drugs were claimed to have caused serious side effects in patients, including 3,604 tragic deaths.
Foreword
To put things in perspective, the most recent EU Status Report on Infringement (EUIPO, 2019) says that fake drugs cost the European pharmaceutical business a whopping EUR 9.6 billion in missed sales from 2012 to 2016. This is a significant 3.9% of the total sales in the industry.
Pharmaceutical businesses like Pfizer fight this serious threat and try to protect the health of millions of people around the world. Yet many innocent lives are at stake due to the lack of a robust monitoring system to track counterfeits.
As consumers, you must make sure that brands are just as committed to safeguarding you by using trustworthy anti-counterfeit solutions. Opting for anti-counterfeit technology within your supply chain offers a more streamlined and proactive strategy. This technology safeguards your brand effectively and simplifies the process by minimizing potential counterfeit threats before they escalate.
You can ensure a promising defense against unauthorized cloning by integrating anti-counterfeit technology.
