Securing Pharma: Bangladesh Carrying Heavy Counterfeit Medicine Burden

Business Monitor International estimates that spurious medicines account for around $150m of Bangladesh's total prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical market of around $1.16bn.

Securing Pharma in a September 23rd post, details a recently published report, entitled Bangladesh Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Report Q4 2010 compiled by Business Monitor International.

According to the Securing Pharma story:

• Testing of 5,000 medicine samples this year by the government of Bangladesh revealed that 300 or 6 per cent were either counterfeit or of substandard quality, according to Business Monitor International.

• The country's Public Health and Drug Testing Laboratory found that many of the fake or low-quality products were antibiotics and other potentially life-saving medicines and therefore pose a risk to public health.

• The market research firm estimates that spurious medicines account for around $150m of Bangladesh's total prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical market of around $1.16bn.

• The main channels for distribution of the substandard and counterfeit drugs seems to be the country's huge network of unlicensed pharmacies - which could number as many as 80,000 according to some estimates.

• "It is thought that these counterfeit products are produced in numerous drug factories situated along the Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese and Thailand borders," comments BMI in the report.

This criminal act now effectively impacts and entire country’s health and well being especially when many of the bogus drugs go beyond the traditional life style drugs and instead are basic antibiotics and life saving medications.

In Bangladesh counterfeit medications are now a deadly part of the legitimate pharmaceutical supply chain.

The issue of adulterated, fraudulent and counterfeit drugs has transcended from individual criminal acts to a well organized industry that sells disease and death.

All members of the global pharmaceutical supply chain must protect their inventories and consumers from these bogus fakes by deploying anti-counterfeiting technologies and solutions.

To read the entire Securing Pharma story, visit: http://www.securingpharma.com/40/articles/588.php.

To learn more about pharmaceutical anti-counterfeiting technologies, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

FDA Sets Up Shop in Mexico

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has continued its expansion outside of the United States with the opening of an office in Mexico. This is now the third FDA office in Latin America after Costa Rica and Chile.

The move is the latest in an effort by the FDA to influence foreign markets, and in particular in areas which serve as important importation partners into the US supply chains including pharmaceuticals, medical devices and food.

The new office which is based in the capital, Mexico City, "represents an important step as we re-design our product safety strategy," commented FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg.

Mexico is the largest pharmaceutical market in Central America, with 2009 sales estimated to reach around $9bn and expected to grow to nearly $15bn over the next five years, according to Business Monitor International. It is the second-largest pharmaceutical market in Latin America as a whole.

XStream Systems encourages the continued expansion of the FDA into countries that are important trading partners but also suggest that regulatory bodies and supply chains, internationally and domestically, utilize technologies like EDXRD to protect itself from fraudulent, adulterated and counterfeit materials.

To learn more about supply chain protection technologies, visit: www.xstreamsystems.net.