{"id":113,"date":"2010-04-04T16:28:29","date_gmt":"2010-04-04T16:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=113"},"modified":"2012-09-06T16:46:15","modified_gmt":"2012-09-06T16:46:15","slug":"113","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/113\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad Medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Using Google’s search engine to check “Viagra,” over 11,500,000 online sites were listed \u2013 which, when narrowed down to \u201cBuy Viagra,\u201d still yielded 5,530,000 sites, testament, if any, to the prescription drug\u2019s popularity, and, to a certain extent, easy accessibility.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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But, be warned, not all Viagra (sildenafil citrate) tablets sold are authentic. According to the Florida Statewide Pharmaceutical Services and Drug Wholesaler Advisory Council in the US, of the 32 top counterfeited drugs, sexual potency drugs (Pfizer Inc.\u2019s Viagra and Lilli ICOS\u2019 Cialis) come second only to cholesterol-inducing medication Lipitor (atorvastatin), so that even the World Health Organization (WHO) admits that Viagra is \u201cone of the most counterfeited drugs today.\u201d<\/p>\n

This may be because, since it was first distributed in 1998 as the first medicine developed for erectile dysfunction, over 170 million prescriptions have already been prescribed by 600,000 doctors. Roughly, this means that about nine Viagra tablets are sold every second somewhere in the world, making the medicine one of the most popular drugs ever.<\/p>\n

And so is stressed the worrying pervasiveness of fake medicines.<\/p>\n

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Source: Bureau of Food and Drugs and the Department of Health (February 18, 2005)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

In a report titled Combating Counterfeit Medicine<\/em>, the WHO stated that the production, distribution, and sales of counterfeit medicines, which have been dramatically rising in recent years, matter because its implications are wide, and often connected – from health implications by disregarding patient safety, and increasing morbidity and mortality rates; and, subsequently, having economic implications because of the wastes of already limited government resources for health.<\/p>\n

All these, adds the WHO, easily jeopardize the development of the medicine industry itself.<\/p>\n

PRO-ACTIVE APPROACH<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the Philippines, to battle the proliferation of fake medicines , 12 organizations from various industries formed the Coalition Against Fake Medicines (CAFM). Government agencies Department of Health (DOH), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the Department of Justice (DOJ) joined forces with medical groups Philippine Medical Association (PMA), Philippine Pharmaceutical Association (PPHA), Drugstores Association of the Philippines (DSAP), Mercury Drug Corporation, Watson\u2019s Personal Care Stores, Zuellig Pharma Corporation, and Pfizer Inc., as well as major media players Philippine Daily Inquirer, and GMA 7 Broadcast Network . While the overall goal is to enforce existing laws against counterfeiting, CAFM also aims to increase awareness of the problem among the consumers with the hope that they, themselves, will be able to correctly determine the authenticity of the medicines they are buying, and will thus not be victimized by counterfeiters.<\/p>\n

\u201c(While) medicines play a critical role in curing and controlling diseases and consequently in improving lives, it is very important to differentiate real from fake medicines. The medicine you are buying from unscrupulous vendors may not only aggravate your health, but it can also lead to your untimely death,\u201d the group says in a prepared statement.<\/p>\n

The worry is but rightly so, what with data on the proliferation of fake medicines staggering. The WHO believes counterfeits make up between 5% and 8% of the $550 billion worth of medicines annually sold worldwide. 60% of counterfeit medicine cases actually occur in least developed and developing countries, with anti-malarials, antibiotics, and HIV and AIDS drugs among those targeted by suppliers. Overall, this industry is worth over $35 billion.<\/p>\n

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According to the WHO, 60% of fake medicine cases occur in developing countries, and the other 40% in developed countries. In the case of the former, as much as 25% of medicines consumed are counterfeit or substandard. In the Philippines, at least 8% of the drugs bought in a year (1995 alone) were fake.<\/p><\/div>\n

Adds the WHO, 60% of fake medicine cases occur in developing countries, and the other 40% in developed countries. \u00a0In the case of the former, as much as 25% of medicines consumed are counterfeit or substandard. \u00a0In the Philippines, at least 8% of the drugs bought in a year (1995 alone) were fake.<\/p>\n

As if further stressing how the available figures are not scary enough, various cases from all over the world show how bad the effects of counterfeit medicines can be – e.g. In 1995, an inactive meningitis vaccine containing only water was used to treat up to 80,000 people in Niger, and thousands died from the fake vaccine\u2019s ineffectivity; and in 2001, more than one-third of antimalarial artesunate products in Cambodia, Lao People\u2019s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam contained no active ingredients.<\/p>\n

CONSTANT VIGILANCE<\/strong><\/p>\n

The CAFM, intends to also empower the consumers by educating them. The alliance has created a toll free hotline \u2013 1-800-10-FAKEMED (3253-633) \u2013 for any consumer in doubt about the authenticity of bought medicine; and has been circulating materials on counterfeit drugs to branches of Mercury Drug and member drugstores of the DSAP to help consumers distinguish fake medicines from the genuine ones.<\/p>\n

According to the coalition, making a distinction between fake medicines from the real ones is never easy, so that even buying from reputable drugstores is no guarantee, particularly since the producers of fake medicines make their products look as similar as the real ones as possible. There are, however, some obvious identifiers noticeable among fake medicine supplies intercepted by authorities, including the differences in the color or texture of the tablet, capsule, or ampoule, and\/or its content from the ones a regular consumer usually buys, brand names that are bigger than the generic names, and the absence of generic names.<\/p>\n

CAFM suggests for consumers to “check the medicine\u2019s BFAD-registration, as well as taking note of the lot\/batch number and expiration date of drugs bought, since, generally, only genuine drugs comply with this specification that is also stipulated in the law.” When still in doubt, consumers are advised to discontinue use, and present unused medicines with the receipt to authorities for proper action.<\/p>\n

Vigilance is the winning strategy against counterfeit medicines, since \u201ccombating counterfeit medicines is a never ending battle,\u201d as stated by the WHO. And for it to work, \u201cit is not only the responsibility of medicines regulatory authority, (but the) coordinated efforts of multiple partners, including law enforcement agencies, health professionals, consumers, and other relevant stakeholders, is needed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to the WHO, 60% of fake medicine cases occur in developing countries, and the other 40% in developed countries. In the case of the former, as much as 25% of medicines consumed are counterfeit or substandard. In the Philippines, at least 8% of the drugs bought in a year (1995 alone) were fake. Watch out for the drugs that can kill you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,3,35],"tags":[76],"class_list":["post-113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-wellness-2","category-spotlight","category-wellness-2","tag-fake-medicine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions\/120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}