Counterfeit medicines: relevance, consequences and strategies to combat the global crisis

Abstract Counterfeiting of medicines, also known as "falsification" or "adulteration", is the process in which the identity, origin, or history of genuine medicines are intentionally modified. Currently, counterfeit medicines are a global crisis that affects and is mostly caused by developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. These countries lack strict law enforcement against this practice and have low-income populations with medicinal needs. Lately, the crisis has escalated, impacting developed countries as well, e.g., the US and the EU, mainly via the Internet. Despite this extension, some current laws aim to control and minimize the crisis' magnitude. Falsification of medicines maintains an illegitimate supply chain that is connected to the legitimate one, both of which are extremely complex, making such falsification difficult to control. Furthermore, political and economic causes are related to the crisis' hasty growth, causing serious consequences for individuals and public health, as well as for the economy of different countries. Recently, organizations, technologies and initiatives have been created to overcome the situation. Nevertheless, the development of more effective measures that could aggregate all the existing strategies into a large functioning network could help prevent the acquisition of counterfeit medicines and create awareness among the general population.

International Experiences of Response to Medicines Shortage and the Implications to China / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE:To propose policy recommendations for China to solve medicines shortage fundamentally. METH-ODS:The causes of medicines shortage in China were analyzed. Chinese,American,Canadian and European literatures and the government website of typical countries about responses to medicines shortage since 2010 were searched and reviewed. RESULTS& CONCLUSIONS:Medicines shortage in China are due to regulation and policy changes and unfair competition. Both China and foreign countries face the problem of medicines shortage to some extent,either due to demand side or supply side. It is necessary to improve related laws and regulations to deal with medicines shortage,establish multi coordinative mechanism,shortage monitor-ing system and information and communication network platform with the patient-centered approach,leave reasonable profit for pharmaceutical production and distribution enterprises and crack down hoarding of raw materials. The experiences of typical coun-tries in defining clear responsibility for each stakeholder in the medicines supply chain,establishing comprehensive policies and co-ordinative mechanisms in response to medicines shortage are valuable for China to follow.