Drug Counterfeiting, Adapt or Perish

"Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative." H.G. Wells

The following is a re-posting of an opinion blog in Secure Pharma Chain blog from 2010:

By: Alan Clock, Senior Vice President, XStream Systems

For those of us knowledgeable about the issue of counterfeiting, we have long been aware of the huge growing menace that has seemingly lurked in the shadows of the collective consciousness of the public at large for some time now.

Even for those who have been at the forefront of this serious threat, which the FBI dubs “the crime of the 21st century”, currently there seems to be a heightened sense of concern about how quickly this criminal activity is proliferating. It would appear now that this threat is advancing well beyond even our own alarmist predictions.

To date, much of the death and destruction associated with counterfeiting activity has occurred off the radar screen from the populace of privileged, developed nations and instead in the isolated world of underdeveloped areas and their residents.

For some of us with the advantage of a prosperous free market system, we have been somewhat immune to the spectacle of the criminal poisoning of disadvantage populations, which happens routinely in Africa and Asia by the purveyors of this insidious transgression.

In 2010, the widely accepted World Health Organization’s estimate is that pharmaceutical counterfeits are a $75 billion industry with an annual growth percentage of 12-16%. The World Customs Institute estimates that food counterfeiting is a $49 billion annual enterprise.

According to the study of Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau of the International Chamber of Commerce counterfeit goods make up conservatively 5 - 7% of World Trade which the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition calculates would make the current global counterfeit economy the world’s biggest single business.

We now find ourselves in a perfect storm that will expand counterfeit criminal activity well beyond our wildest estimates and make it far more deadly in scope and size. The primary elements feeding this calamity include:

· a worldwide economy in a downward spiral
· ineffective regulations and laws on the crime of counterfeiting
· spotty or careless enforcement of existing laws on counterfeiting
· disjointed supply chains that cross multiple governmental boundaries and jurisdictions
· huge taxes on critical commercial markets like healthcare that are squeezing both the business and the onsumer to look for cheaper goods
· a collective lack of knowledge and leadership by governments around the globe to protect their constituents
· industries that choose to ignore the threat to their businesses instead of protecting their brand and customers
· a collective lack awareness of the deadly nature of the threat of counterfeits by consumers worldwide, most consider this a harmless act

Until now, this criminal activity, although grand in its size has really been driven by single individuals or disparate organized entities that realize how lucrative and safe this nefarious criminal activity has become. Criminals understand that counterfeiting is the perfect crime:

· there are few ways to get caught
· if they do get caught their activity carries almost no significant ramifications
· most often their crime will not be discovered for some time giving them plenty of time to cover their tracks and escape
· they have a global marketplace where they can carry out transactions anonymously in cyberspace
· the profit margin derived from counterfeiting transcends what most businesses make in a legitimate activity

Even as this perfect crime expands to educated and developed nations, we now seem at the precipice of something far more dangerous and deadly as this menace seems likely to evolve into something much larger in size and scope and far more insidious as a whole.

Many experts now fear the inevitable, when terror organizations, who are not driven by greed but rather destruction, realize the relative ease and deadly effectiveness that a purposeful counterfeiting event could trigger in a region or nation. Be it in a consumer good, food stuff, electronics or medication, one single, simple adulteration could literally harm millions with relative impunity.

Adapt or Perish, the time is now for governments, industry and consumers to understand the need for solutions to protect themselves from the various nefarious sources that threaten their health and wellbeing.

Today there are many technologies and services available that can offer protection to industry and consumers from those who would seek to profit or cause destruction. Leaders in governments and industry around the globe need to act now to protect entire populations.

Although no one solution, to date provides a single, "iron clad" solution to this scourge, when appropriately layered, these existing solutions can and do create effective and efficient security to protect supply chains and consumers from fraudulent, adulterated and counterfeit products.

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

WHO Fears Growing Malaria Drug Resistance May Be Spreading

WHO officials say counterfeit drugs and poor storage are to blame.

Ron Corben in the November 28th issue of the Voice of America News, reports on a story from the World Health Organization regarding the growing issue of malaria drug resistance in Asia primarily caused by adulterated, fraudulent, sub-standard and counterfeit medications.

Highlights from the Voice of America News article include:

• World Health Organization officials say there are signs of growing drug resistance to mosquito-borne malaria, raising concern millions of people in Asia may be at risk.

• The Asia region accounts for more than 60 per cent of the global population at risk of the parasite with the main focus on India, Burma, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

• But World Health Organization officials point to troubling signs a current drug combination based on artemisinin, originally drawn from a Chinese herb, is losing its potency against the malaria parasite.

• Artemisinin is largely given to patients in combination with other drugs rather than by itself in a bid to preserve the drug's long term effective strength.

• "The place where we are really concerned is on the Cambodian-Thai border," said Eva Marie Christophel a World Health Organization official in the Phillipines. "It would be disastrous if that spread because there's hardly anything in terms of new drugs in the pipeline for malaria or what is in the pipeline will take years, so we're really very much relying on arthemisinin based combination therapy."

• The World Health Organization is concerned that drug resistance could spread from the Cambodian-Thailand border region to Africa, following a similar pattern with anti-malaria drugs such as cloroquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine in the 1960s and 1970s.

• In February 2009, WHO confirmed anti-malarial resistance at the Cambodian-Thailand border. But recent WHO studies found up to 20 per cent of patients at the Burma-Thailand border also showed signs of malarial parasites in the blood after the normal artemisinin combination therapy.

• "We noticed years ago that the disappearance time for parasites to disappear from the blood is increasing. Usually they disappear in two days or less," said Dr. Charles Delacollette, coordinator of the Bangkok-based WHO Mekong Malaria Program. "And we observe that there are an increasing proportion of patients showing parasites, still parasites in their blood after two days of artemisinin treatment, which was not the case before."

• Dr. Delacollette says the growing drug resistance is in part due to the sale of substandard and counterfeit drugs. In recent years, authorities cracked down against illegal factories in China. Meanwhile, counterfeit producers have been found elsewhere, including Cambodia and Burma.

• "Drugs are not quality, the quality of the drugs sold in private sector is selling any kind of drugs which are stored in very bad conditions, so they becoming substandard and also you have sellers which are selling counterfeit - purposely made counterfeit," said Dr. Delacollette.

The crime of adulterated, fraudulent, sub-standard and counterfeit drugs is a dangerous threat to populations around the globe.

To think that unscrupulous organized gangs can impact the health and well being of populations around the globe, especially for diseases and maladies that have long since been conquered by the advances in medical science is unconscionable.

Unfortunately the issue with malarial drugs is just the beginning of a much larger issue of drug resistant strains of diseases around the world. Drug resistant diseases know no borders and impact all societies, rich and poor.

The global supply chain must take proactive measures to protect their inventories from this insidious crime by deploying solutions to track and authenticate their inventories.

To read the entire Voice of America News story, visit: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/WHO-fears-growing-malaria-drug-resistance-may-be-spreading---110934814.htmlmalaria-drug-resistance-may-be-spreading---110934814.html

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

The Fake Drug Menace

In China Counterfeiters are turning out bogus 'life-saving' medicines.

In Part 1 of a two-part special report, Straits Times correspondent Grace Ng focus on the huge underground trade in China of fake pharmaceutical drugs and the dangers it poses to the population.

Ms. Ng writes an excellent essay with personal stories, statistics and examples of the danger posed to the consumer.

Some of the highlights of Ms. Ng’s story include:

• The estimate from the US-based Centre for Medicine in the Public Interest shows global sales of counterfeit drugs almost doubling in the past five years.

• The World Health Organisation also believes that in some developing regions, more than 30 per cent of medications sold are fake. Online retailing has only made it worse: As much as half of what is offered online could be fake.

• Interpol secretary-general Ronald Noble has described this trade as more deadly than terrorism. While 65,000 people have died in the past 40 years as a result of terrorism, fake medicine has killed 200,000 people in China in one year alone, he said at a recent conference on anti-counterfeiting in Africa.

• The world's second largest economy [China] is also one of the main sources - possibly the biggest - of counterfeit drugs.

• A significant share of the revenue from the global sale of fake drugs is pocketed by Chinese manufacturers, who are becoming increasingly savvy in exploiting online sales and technology to grow their business.

• Chinese counterfeiting syndicates used to make most of their money from sales in Africa, inundating countries like Nigeria with fake anti-malarial drugs that were labeled 'Made in India'.

• Investigations have also revealed the technological savviness and sophistication of Chinese manufacturers. Not only do they have the laser printers and chemical labs to churn out perfect replicas of genuine drug packaging, down to the holograms, but they are also using major websites to market their wares aggressively.

As this outstanding article points out, China has become the epicenter of bogus medications and the threat to consumers’ world wide continues to grow.

Consumers around the globe must be made aware of the very real threat to their health and well being while members of the pharmaceutical supply chains must take proactive efforts to protect their brands and inventories.

To view the entire Straits Times story, visit: http://admpreview.straitstimes.com:90/vgn-ext-templating/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=29b07cac3afec210VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=f511758920e39010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD


To learn about solutions used to combat counterfeit medications, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/

WHO: Fake Drugs Major Factor in New Malaria Strain

The World Health Organization (WHO) raised the alarm about a new strain of drug resistant malaria in South East Asia.

According to SafeMedicines, a newly published report on antimalarial drug efficacy and resistance, scientists believe that fake and substandard malarial medications are a major factor in the development of new drug-resistant strains of malaria.

According to SafeMedicines:

• Resistance to artemisinin has emerged along the border of Cambodia and Thailand, and WHO is putting together a global panel of stakeholders to work to contain this new strain before it spreads to Africa, as other strains did in the 1960s and 1970s. Scientists believe that once a new strain occurs through spontaneous change in the parasite, its ability to survive is promoted by substandard medications.

• Current containment activities involve long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets, recruitment and training of village health workers equipped with rapid diagnostic tests, and most importantly free malaria treatment and follow-up. Free treatment is key to the success of the containment effort because “free treatment and care helps to undermine the sale of counterfeit and substandard antimalarial drugs,” states WHO in the “Global Report on Antimalarial Drug Efficacy And Drug Resistance: 2000-2010.

• “Efforts have also been made to stop the sale of counterfeit and substandard drugs, which are a major factor in the development of resistance,” states the report.

• WHO’s report states that the Cambodian government is working closely to monitor malarial medications and educating consumers in workshops and through reading materials on the extensive dangers fake malaria drugs may cause them.

• “History has shown that once resistance to antimalarial treatment emerges it is only a question of time before it spreads. For the first time, the global malaria community has the opportunity to contain resistance before it spreads,” states the report.

• Artemisinin is a plant-based antimalarial medicine, which due its potency very quickly reduces the number of malaria parasites in humans. Artemisinin compounds are combined with other anti-malarial drugs in therapies called artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs). Using combination therapies provide multiple possible agents to kill the plasmodium parasites that cause malaria.

Drug resistant diseases know no borders and effect wealthy and the poor.

Counterfeit drugs have become one of the most insidious criminal and health care epidemics of the 21st century.

All members of the global pharmaceutical supply chain (manufacturers, distributors, regulatory agencies, dispensers and consumers) must insist on it members to use all laws, solutions and technologies to fight this lethal crime.

To view the entire SafeMedicines post, visit: http://www.safemedicines.org/2010/11/fake-drugs-major-factor-in-new-malaria-strain-says-who-49.html

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

USP Building Database of Fake & Substandard Meds

USP is building a database of counterfeit medicines to support international drug procurement organizations, such as WHO, and the timely sharing of information between national regulators.

In a November 16th article in the In-PharmaTechnologist, Nick Taylor reports on the development of a new database that is due to launch early next year by the US Pharmacopeia (USP).

USP’s database will allow regulators and organizations the ability to monitor counterfeit and substandard drugs and to support more informed enforcement actions and procurement-related decisions.

According to Mr. Taylor’s article:

• Speaking to in-PharmaTechnologist at AAPS 2010 Patrick Lukulay, director of the promoting the quality of medicines (PQM) initiative at USP, outlined how timely sharing of information can support enforcement actions.

• Lukulay said the database could have supported a more effective response to counterfeit medicines that spread to Mali after first being seized in Ghana. Using the database regulators in Mali would have been aware of the products, which had the same batch numbers as the products seized in Ghana, and acted accordingly.

• Having created the architecture the USP is now inputting information about counterfeit or substandard drugs into the database. Listed on the database will be the name of the product, the country it was seized in, what was wrong with it and other descriptors, said Lukulay. If countries agree the database will be shared with the public.

• The benefits of sharing information also underpin the USP's creation of a 'virtual forum'. This will allow users to pose questions, share alerts and discuss best practices among a network of people involved with ensuring the quality of medicines.

Secure Pharma Chain, supports all efforts to share information in fighting the deadly crime of adulterated, fraudulent, substandard and counterfeit drugs.

All members of the pharmaceutical supply chain must use all tools including technologies, solutions and cooperative intelligence databases to interdict these dangerous products

It is critical that each member of the supply chain bear the responsibility of securing their inventories in order to protect their business brand and ultimately the health care consumer.

To read the entire story, visit: http://www.in-pharmatechnologist.com/Processing-QC/USP-building-database-of-fake-substandard-meds

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

WHO Names Kenya as Safe Haven for Fake Drug Cartels

World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that the Kenyan market for counterfeit, expired, diverted and otherwise illegal medicines is around $130m and propagated by weak border controls and cartels-believed to include Health Ministry Officials.

George Omondi and Mwangi Muiruri in Business Daily Africa, write an excellent article about a recent World Health Organization newsletter report describing Kenya as a “safe haven” for counterfeit drugs.

Included in the Business Daily Africa story:

• Kenya is a safe haven for a cartel that has choked the domestic market with counterfeit and untested medicine smuggled through informal channels, the World Health Organization has said, warning that the country could incur huge costs in mitigating the side effects of the drugs.

• The value of both genuine and fake medicines sold illegally to unsuspecting consumers is roughly $130 million annually, says the organization in its October newsletter.

• The value includes drugs donated by international agencies, those stolen from hospitals and expired or fake ones made by backstreet firms and routinely smuggled in through East Africa’s porous borders.

• The cartel — believed to include senior Health ministry officials— runs a complex web of informal trade, spanning the five East African Community countries, DR Congo and Southern Sudan.

• The rogue merchants, who devise elaborate schemes to disguise their activities, are aggressive and smart, according to WHO, which blames the menace on weaknesses in border controls. “They (cartel) establish fictitious front companies and use falsified documents to exploit weaknesses in border control as governments reduce border inspections to encourage free trade,” WHO says in the Newsletter.

• The concern over drugs safety comes just weeks after local pharmaceutical producers complained of frequent theft of narcotics in their premises by what they termed “ well co-ordinated cartels.” Drug companies are allowed to buy narcotics which they use as raw materials in making medicines under the strict watch of regulators.

• “This has become a well co-ordinated business because in most cases, we realise that up to five pharmaceutical companies have been raided and all their narcotics stolen in one night without any clue for arrests,” said a manager at one of the local pharmaceutical firms, which cannot be named for security reasons.

• The raids have sparked widespread fears over the authenticity of drugs sold over the counters and hospitals with the Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB), the government agency that regulates the sale of medicines, saying yesterday it had issued strict cross-border trade rules to tighten the noose on the cartels.

• The board’s head of pharmacovigilance department, which tracks the movement of drugs, Dr Jayesh Pandit, said the recent designation and gazettement of all entry and exit points for drugs would push the cartels out of business. “Our instruction to all regulatory and law enforcement agencies in the region is that any drug that is not inspected and cleared at the designated points should be confiscated immediately,” he said, adding that the international community had taken long in stamping out the cartels because of “too much” focus on infringement of intellectual property rights of big pharma, loss of monopoly or financial losses.

• “Unfortunately, lesser attention is given to the number of lives lost, number of severe drug reactions experienced and the morbidity associated with the murderous trade of counterfeiting,” said Dr Pandit

While disturbing, unfortunately this article and WHO report is not surprising.

Much like the more infamous illegal drug cartels in Central and South America, these bogus drug criminal organizations exact a tremendous amount of influence within small countries. The return on investment in fake medications is significantly higher than nearly all criminal endeavours. Populations will continue to be at risk as long as law enforcement and the legitimate supply chain allow these crooks to poison their consumers.

Hopefully this type of story will stimulate the pharmaceutical supply chain and average health care consumer in developed countries to become more engaged in pharmaceutical supply chain safety.

To read the entire Business Daily Africa article, visit: http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate%20News/WHO%20names%20Kenya%20as%20safe%20haven%20for%20fake%20drug%20cartels/-/539550/1050938/-/jud3flz/-/

To learn about pharmaceutical supply chain safety solutions, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/

IPS: Fake Medicines May Kill a Million a Year

Central and Eastern Europe is facing "significant challenges" in combating a multi-billion euro, and often lethal, trade in fake medicines, security and pharmaceutical groups have warned.

Pavol Strancansky writes a disturbing if not interesting story about the size, scope and danger of counterfeit medication in Europe for the Inter Press Service. The story is full of insider insight and current statistics.

Included in Mr. Strancansky’s story:

• Millions of counterfeit tablets and medicines, some of them containing lethal heavy metals, are smuggled annually. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 50 percent of medicines sold online are fake.

• But while some Eastern European states have brought in strict laws and procedures to fight fake medicine smugglers, criminals in the region are thought to be working with international gangs in neighbouring states to bring contraband medicines into the EU.

• Gabriel Turcu, partner at the European anti-counterfeiting organisation REACT, told IPS: "It has been shown that there are people in Central and Eastern European EU member states working with organised gangs in neighbouring countries to bring counterfeit medicines into the European Union and westwards. This is a significant challenge for the region."

• Just like the drug and people trafficking trade, the counterfeit medicine industry is estimated to be worth tens of billions of euros per year for crime gangs, and is mushrooming every year.

• The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has estimated that this year the illegal market in counterfeit medicines will provide more than 75 billion euros in revenues for smugglers -- a rise of 92 percent on 2005.

• Police forces say that fake medicines, sometimes so well-prepared and packaged that they can fool even healthcare professionals, are being shipped out by crooks in the same illegal consignments as narcotics. Gangs then sell them on to unscrupulous medicine wholesalers or direct to the public online.

• Health experts estimate that fake medicines -- made from anything from crushed brick to arsenic -- cause up to one million deaths a year, and the UN has said they are contributing to growing drug resistance.

• India and China are thought to be the main source countries for the fake medicines, but customs officers in central and Eastern Europe have said that they are being brought into Europe on the same smuggling routes used for narcotics and people -- through Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

• Pfizer issued a report earlier this year saying that the market in counterfeit medicines in Europe is worth an estimated 10.5 billion euros annually, with people in Italy and Germany spending the most on what later turn out to be fake medicines -- an estimated 3.6 billion and 2.7 billion euros respectively.

• EU officials have said that in a two-month period last year 34 million fake tablets were seized by customs officials while the Council of Europe says that in some parts of Europe fake medicines make up between six and 20 percent of the market.

• Public awareness of the risks of counterfeit medicines is also low, according to research.

• While punishments for drug running and people smuggling are severe and risks high, those for counterfeit medicines are generally far less. In some countries production and selling of counterfeit medicines is not considered a crime and in many Western states it was until relatively recently viewed legally as being on a par with trading in fake branded clothes.

• Turcu, who last week attended a special conference in Bucharest which brought together country representatives and law enforcement officials from across the region to discuss the threat of counterfeit medicines, told IPS: "What is needed is a directive from the EU making it mandatory for countries at national level to qualify counterfeiting as a crime and counterfeiting that harms people as a serious crime."

Along with regulatory action, public awareness and action by industry leaders and members of the pharmaceutical supply chain are crucial in eradicating this very serious, potentially lethal crime.

To read the entire IPS story, visit: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53318

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

Eastern Europe Confronts Fake Medicines

“Fighting back counterfeiters can't be done by one country or by one organization, it calls for a synergy of efforts."

Eastern Europe is a key route in a multi-billion-dollar trade in often-dangerous counterfeit medicines that has grown exponentially on the Internet. Agence France-Presse reports on a meeting of more than 120 anti-counterfeit specialists from six Eastern European countries in Romania held recently. The meeting was an effort to bring experts together and collaborate in combating this deadly crime which impacts the health of entire populations.

Highlights from the Agence France-Presse story include:

• "There is an important Balkan route for fake medicines, which is the same as for heroin and other narcotics," Hungarian customs officer Karolyi Szep told AFP at the meeting called by the world's leading pharmaceutical company Pfizer.

• Such drugs can contain no active ingredients at all or 8,000 times the required amount, or heavy metals such as arsenic, lead-based paint, brick dust or floor wax -- content that poses major health risks and can lead to death.

• Today most of the sales are done via the Internet, which has multiplied the trade -- and the risks -- exponentially.

• According to the World Health Organization, one in two medicines sold online are fake.

• "People who buy medicines on the Internet are playing Russian roulette with their own lives," Steve Allen, senior director of Pfizer Global Security, told AFP.

• Allen said 63 million fake Pfizer tablets, vials and capsules as well as enough active ingredient to manufacture an additional 64 million have been seized worldwide since 2004. "But this is just the tip of the iceberg," he warned.

• “Fighting back counterfeiters can't be done by one country or by one organization, it calls for a synergy of efforts," he said. "We are dealing with organized crime gangs, there is no doubt about it."

• Considered a low-risk and high-reward business, counterfeit medicines have become increasingly alluring to narcotics smugglers.

• "Supply techniques are identical, but the punishment is not," Allen said, stressing that in certain countries manufacturing or selling fake medicines is not considered a crime.

• In one case of narcotics and fake medicines going hand in hand, Turkish police seized 6,000 counterfeit Viagra pills smuggled with 378,000 ecstasy tablets and enough ingredients to manufacture 51 kilogrammes (110 pounds) of heroin.

• The former Soviet bloc has made important progress in recent years in fighting counterfeit medicines, said Gabriel Turcu, a senior partner in leading European anti-counterfeiting network REACT.

• Most countries in the region have toughened legislation and some are even setting an example for their Western neighbors. In Romania, fake drugs smugglers have for the first time been sentenced to prison this year.

• "Years ago, judges would deem counterfeiting T-shirts or medicines was the same. Now their perception has changed," Turcu said.

• Calling for increased public awareness, experts and law enforcement authorities stressed that deaths caused by fake medicines are often attributed to natural causes.

Secure Pharma Chain encourages collaborations as an important step forward in fighting this deadly criminal act.

Working partnerships between regulatory agencies and industry along with public awareness and the deployment of technologies are the vital components to the “synergy of efforts” in ending the threat of counterfeit medications to consumers around the globe.

To read the entire Agence France-Presse story, visit: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/world/10/21/10/eastern-europe-confronts-fake-medicines-trade

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

Global Pharmaceutical Sales Expected to Rise to $880bn in 2011

IMS Health predicts that global drug sales will increase 5 to 7 per cent next year, driven by development of innovative pharmaceuticals and growth of emerging markets. Secure Pharma Chain sees this as a major driver to continued proliferation of counterfeit medications.

In-PharmaTechnologist published a story yesterday on the IMS report regarding the rise in global drug sales for 2011.

The report shows that although there will “constraints” to the traditional developed markets because of the loss of major drugs to patent protections, significant growth in emerging markets globally will still mean continued growth.

Secure Pharma Chain anticipates that based on the information in this report, the growth in the emerging markets in China will result in still higher growth in substandard, fraudulent, adulterated and counterfeit medications in 2011.

This estimation is driven by industry experts like Terry Hisey from Deloitte and the World Health Organization, significantly raising their estimates in 2010 as to the annual global value of counterfeit medications to a range from $75b to $200b with a annual growth rate of 12to 15 per cent.

These factors and the state of the global economy in general mean that the global pharmaceutical market place will face many challenges going forward.

Secure Pharma Chain encourages all members of the pharmaceutical supply chain to protect their inventories from this growing threat by deploying technologies and solutions designed to authenticate and validate products within the supply channel.

Included in the In-PharmaTechnologist article:

• China is expected to enter 2011 as the third largest pharmaceutical market after the US and Japan, overtaking Germany with a predicted 25 per cent growth and $50bn in sales.

• By 2015, annual spending on prescription drugs in another 16 emerging markets is expected to increase by at least $1bn, which for the lowest spender in the group, Vietnam, will mark a doubling of this year’s expenditure.

• Innovative products in areas of stroke prevention, melanoma, multiple sclerosis, breast cancer and hepatitis C are expected to enter the market next year, representing 30-35 new chemical and biological entities with five predicted to reach blockbuster status.

• While 2011 is expected to bring global drugs sales of $880-890bn, “the underlying constraints to growth in developed markets are stronger than ever”, according to Murray Aitken, Senior Vice President at IMS, with “major drugs losing patent protection and facing generic competition for the first time”. The new potential blockbuster drugs are not expected to provide market growth “beyond what we’ve seen in the past 3 years which is at historically low levels”.

To read the entire In-PharmaTechnologist article, visit: http://www.in-pharmatechnologist.com/Industry-Drivers/IMS-prediction-Emerging-markets-front-5-7-rise-in-drug-sales-for-2011

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

Havocscope: Counterfeit Pharmaceutical Drugs Is The Top Black Market Activity Eclipsing Prostitution

Counterfeit Pharmaceutical Drugs are estimated to be valued at $200B per year, significantly eclipsing previous estimates and valued at over $12B more than the second most prevelant black market activity, prostitution.

Havocscope is an independent data and information provider of black market activities around the world.

The rankings by Havocscope are based on monitoring information from public sources including newspaper articles, academic journals, governmental data, non-governmental reports and press releases from relevant institutions.

Havocscope is the global leader in providing information on illicit activities worldwide and has been published and cited in a variety of well known mainstream publications globally.

The $200B annual black market value notably outpaces the previously accepted World Health Organizations 2010 estimate value of counterfeit drugs at $75B and easily outpaces by any single illicit drug black market activity like marijuana, cocaine or heroin.

Hopefully government officials, law enforcement, industry experts, health care professionals and most importantly consumers take note of this suprising statistic and activity.

The deadly crime of pharmaceutical fraud, adulteration and counterfeiting should be taken seriously by populations everywhere because the victims of this black market activity are unaware of the criminal act.

Certainly this data reflects a radical difference in public perceptions regarding counterfeiting and black market activity in general.

Havoscope ranks the United States as the number one market in the world for counterfeit good sales, followed by China, Spain, Mexico, Italy, Japan, Canada, United Kingdom, Russia and Germany.

The following is Havocscope’s Top 54 Black Market Activities and their annual value:

1. Counterfeit Pharmaceutical Drugs $200 Billion
2. Prostitution $187.67 Billion
3. Marijuana $141.80 Billion
4. Counterfeit Electronics $100 Billion
5. Cocaine $88 Billion
6. Opium and Heroin $65 Billion
7. Prescription Drugs $64.82 Billion
8. Web Video Piracy $60 Billion
9. Software Piracy $51.4 Billion
10. Cigarette Smuggling $50 Billion
11. Human Trafficking $32 Billion
12. Amphetamines $28.25 Billion
13. Illegal Fishing $23 Billion
14. Human Smuggling $20 Billion
15. Wildlife and Animal Smuggling $20 Billion
16. Movie Piracy $20 Billion
17. Ecstasy $16.07 Billion
18. Counterfeit Auto Parts $16 Billion
19. Illegal Logging $15 Billion
20. Gas and Oil Smuggling $12.75 Billion
21. Music Piracy $12.5 Billion
22. Counterfeit Clothing $12 Billion
23. Counterfeit Shoes $12 Billion
24. Trash Smuggling $11 Billion
25. Art and Antique Smuggling $10 Billion
26. Cable Piracy $8.5 Billion
27. Counterfeit Medical Devices $7 Billion
28. Counterfeit Sports Goods and Memorabilia $6.5 Billion
29. Counterfeit Cigarettes $4 Billion
30. Video Game Piracy $3.5 Billion
31. Mobile Entertainment Piracy $3.4 Billion
32. Alcohol Smuggling $3.2 Billion
33. Counterfeit Cosmetics 3.0 Billion
34. Counterfeit Money Orders and Checks $2.5 Billion
35. Counterfeit Toys $2.23 Billion
36. Counterfeit Airline Parts $2 Billion
37. Counterfeit Small Arms $1.8 Billion
38. International Adoptions $1.3 Billion
39. Counterfeit Alcohol $1 Billion
40. Counterfeit Watches $1 Billion
41. Counterfeit Credit and Debit Cards $0.82 Billion ($825.05 Million)
42. Counterfeit Pesticides $0.735 Billion ($735 Million)
43. Book Piracy $0.6 Billion ($600 Million)
44. Kidnap and Ransom $0.5 Billion ($500 Million)
45. Diamond Smuggling $0.28 Billion ($280 Million)
46. Arms Trafficking $0.245 Billion ($245 Million)
47. Counterfeit Currency $0.182 Billion ($182 Million)
48. Nuclear Smuggling $0.1 Billion ($100 Million)
49. Counterfeit Cuban Cigars $0.1 Billion ($100 Million)
50. Organ Trafficking $0.075 Billion ($75 Million)
51. Counterfeit Purses $0.07 Billion ($70 Million)
52. Counterfeit Lighters $0.042 Billion ($42 Million)
53. Counterfeit Batteries$ 0.023 Billion ($23 Million)
54. Body Parts and Human Tissue $0.006 Billion ($6 Million)

To read the Havocscope online post, visit: http://www.havocscope.com/ranking/products.

To learn more about pharmaceutical anti-counterfeiting technologies: www.xstreamsystems.net.

Interpol: Over 80 Arrested in Africa in Police Operation on Counterfeit Drug Rings

In a story published in The Telegram on August 26th, Interpol is announcing that more than 80 people have been arrested and at least 10 tons of counterfeit and illegal medical products seized as part of a joint police operation in five east African nations since July 1st.

According to the story :

· "Operation Mamba III" involved the Lyon, France-based international police organization and a World Health Organization unit and targeted alleged networks of counterfeit drugs makers, traffickers and vendors.
· Interpol said Thursday about 300 sites were inspected or raided in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. The operation was the third of its kind in three years.
· Many nations have noticed a recent increase in police seizures of fake medicines. Interpol said they are becoming more prevalent, sophisticated and dangerous.

International law enforcement agencies working across borders is a significant step forward in combating the global epidemic of fraudulent, adulaterated and counterfeit medications. Continued and enhanced international cooperation is vital in making a significant impact on this deadly criminal act.

Along with enhanced enforcement, Secure Pharma Chain encourages all within the global pharmaceutical chain to deploy anti-counterfeiting technologies to protect their businesses and consumers from deadly bogus medications.

To read the entire story, visit: http://www.thetelegram.com/Canada---World/Arts/2010-08-26/article-1700417/Interpol%3A-Over-80-arrested-in-Africa-in-two-month-police-operation-on-counterfeit-drug-rings/1

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

Anti-Counterfeiting: Thinking Inside the Box

The following is a re-post of blog that was originally posted in Secure Pharma Chain in November 2009. This blog is an excerpt of an article on an authentication as a pharmaceutical anti-counterfeiting solution.

The Autumn 2009 issue of Pharmaceutical Manufacturer and Packing Sourcer (PMPS) features an editorial article written by XStream Systems’ Senior Vice President, Alan Clock.

The editorial piece discusses analyzes the various segments of anti-counterfeiting technology and introducing EDXRD and material screening as a robust tool in combating counterfeit, adulterated and fraudulent medications within the global supply chain.

The phrase, “Thinking Inside the Box” refers to EDXRD’s capability to screen and authenticate materials inside their sealed, unit-of-sale containers without destroying or degrading the materials. This unique solution allows all members of the pharmaceutical supply chain to efficiently, accurately and inexpensively test and screen product to ensure that their inventories are safe and efficacious.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

Today, the various members of the pharmaceutical supply chain find themselves in an expanding global marketplace and in the midst of an ever growing epidemic that threatens each relevant party. As globalization increases, so too does the risk of counterfeit, substandard or fraudulent medications within the supply chain. This increase in risk threatens both the economic and physical health of the pharmaceutical industry and its consumers.

Here are a few staggering statistics related to this scourge:

• The World Health Organization (WHO) conservatively estimates that counterfeit medications will be a $75 billion global industry in 2010.
  
• The WHO projects the annual growth of counterfeit medications to be between 12 and 16 per cent annually, worldwide.
  
• According to the WHO, more than 2,000 children in Africa alone die each day as a result of taking counterfeit medications.
  
• The WHO reports that, across the world, 10 per cent of pharmaceuticals are counterfeit, fraudulent or adulterated. Proliferation and percentages are much higher in developing countries in Asia, Africa and South America, with up to 50 per cent of the supply chain projected to be identified as counterfeit or adulterated.

TRACK AND TRACE

To date, nearly all of the solutions for this global epidemic emphasize what are known as ‘track and trace’ methods (such as barcodes, holograms, RFID, pedigree, taggants and serialization).

These solutions are primarily based on traditional technology for inventory control and security and are common within most sophisticated supply chains.

They are incredibly effective in tracking products, especially in direct or short supply chains, where the additional cost can be justified in their inventory control capabilities because the members of the supply chain use common systems and tools for tracking, distribution and sales.

However, track and trace solutions have their limitations. They generally require some sort of addition to the outside of the box or package, and a common technology to be read and documented.

These processes and technologies add further cost to the product and are difficult to maintain across large global supply chains.

In addition, because of its external placement, the track and trace item may be easily replicated, and it does not verify that the material inside the package is safe and efficacious.

To read the complete article either visit PMPS at www.samedanltd.com/magazine/15/issue/122/article/2531

Or visit XStream Systems website at http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

Report: Drug Resistance Driven By Giving Underdeveloped Nations Access to Drugs

Drug-Resistant Diseases Driven By Non-Profits’ Giving Access to Drugs

The Center for Global Development (CDG), an independent, nonprofit group, has released a report about drug resistant diseases being driven by more access to drugs in underdeveloped nations.

In the report, the CDG states that the World Health Organization (WHO), governments and nonprofit groups are saving lives by distributing drugs to developing countries, but these groups are not paying enough attention to the dangers of drug-resistant diseases and may be contributing to endangering the lives they are meaning to save.

"Drug resistance is a natural occurrence, but careless practices in drug supply and use are hastening it unnecessarily," the CGD’s Rachel Nugent, who led the group writing the report, said in a public statement.

Millions of children in the developing world die every year from drug-resistant strains of malaria, tuberculosis, AIDS and other diseases. Strains of those diseases are increasingly resistant to antibiotics, and the world is losing its ability to treat these and more common diseases such as dysentery and respiratory infections.

The CGD's report urges the WHO to lead others, including pharmaceutical companies, governments, philanthropies that buy and distribute medicines, hospitals, healthcare providers, pharmacies and patients.

The report finds clear links between increased drug availability and resistance. For instance, in countries with the highest use of antibiotics, 75 to 90 percent of Streptococcus pneumoniae strains are drug-resistant, it found.

Poor quality drugs, counterfeit drugs, incomplete use of drugs and other factors all contribute to the problem, the report found. And this problem will worsen as drug access programs succeed, it cautions.

"The number of people being treated for HIV/AIDS, for example, increased 10-fold between 2002 and 2007; there was an 8-fold rise in deliveries of (drugs) for malaria treatment between 2005 and 2006, and the Stop TB Partnership's Global Drug Facility has expanded access to drugs for TB patients, offering nearly 14 million patient treatments in 93 countries since 2001," the report reads.

"While increased access to necessary drugs is clearly desirable, it brings challenges in preserving the efficacy of these drugs and ensuring they are used appropriately."

The CGD is recommending pharmaceutical companies, governments, donors, global health institutions, health providers, and patients to tackle this global health threat by implementing four key recommendations:

1. Collect and share drug resistance information across disease networks.
2. Secure the drug supply chain to ensure quality products and practices.
3. Strengthen national drug regulatory authorities in developing countries.
4. Catalyze research and innovation to speed the development of resistance-fighting technologies.

Secure Pharma Chain Blog endorses the concept by the CDG that an increased vigilance in securing the supply chain of these programs limits their vulnerability to fraud, adulteration and counterfeiting is one of the most significant steps in ensuring the efficacy of these efforts to fight these deadly diseases.

Unfortunately criminal elements are seizing on the opportunity of the tens of millions of dollars being poured into these programs to make huge profits while perpetuating and exacerbating the deadly effects of these horrible diseases.

Efforts and investment in solutions and technologies to protect the supply chain are necessary by every stakeholder of the supply chain to realize the goal of providing life saving medications.

Poor quality, fraudulent, adulterated and counterfeit drugs are causing millions to die each year from drug resistant strains of diseases that should be easily treated and contained. This epidemic is easily solved by more regulatory control and in the supply chains protecting themselves from criminal acts.

To read the entire CDG report, visit: http://www.cgdev.org/section/initiatives/_active/drugresistanceglobalhealth.

To learn more about pharmaceutical supply chain solutions, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

Reuters: Counterfeit Drugs on Rise, Pose Global Threat

“Unwary consumers buying counterfeit drugs on Internet.”

On May 19th, Reuters posted a story written by Stephanie Nebehay regarding the recent World Health Organization meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.

The article encapsulates the proliferation of this deadly crime and the difficulty in countries around the globe in developing a comprehensive strategy in dealing with it. Although many nations realize the deadly consequences, there are many commercial interests including generics and intellectual properly rights which are complicating efforts to fight this illicit activity on a global scale.

The following are some of the highlights from Ms. Nebehay’s report:

· Production and sale of counterfeit drugs is on the rise in rich and poor countries, with more unwary consumers buying them over the Internet, experts warned on Wednesday.

· Fake or substandard versions of medicines are often hidden in cargos taking circuitous routes to mask their country of origin as part of criminal activity worth billions, they add.

· "They put people at risk of harm from medical products that may contain too much, too little, or the wrong active ingredient and/or contain toxic ingredients," said Margaret Hamburg, head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). "Counterfeiting is growing in complexity, scale and geographic scope," she said in a speech to the annual ministerial meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO).

· In wealthy countries, counterfeiting often involves "expensive hormones, steroids and anti-cancer medicines and pharmaceuticals related to lifestyle," a WHO report said.

· But in developing countries, especially Africa, counterfeit medicines are commonly available to treat life-threatening conditions such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, it said.

· Margaret Chan, WHO director-general, said that illicit products had also increased the problem of drug resistance, including to vital anti-malarials and HIV/AIDS drugs. "For a patient, any medicine with compromised safety, efficacy or quality is dangerous," she said.

· Major generic drug makers in India and Brazil, backed by health activists, charge that concerns about counterfeit drugs are being hijacked by pharmaceutical companies keen to protect their patents against legitimate generic competitors.

· (Margaret) Chan said that her United Nations agency would not be drawn into policing intellectual property (IP). "The role of the WHO should be concentrating on public health, not on law enforcement nor intellectual property enforcement."

· There were 1,693 known incidents of counterfeit medicines last year, a rise of 7 percent

Drug counterfeiting is a widely growing, deadly illicit act that is impact millions each year while most of the world’s population remains ignorant of the dangers that they face daily as they consume medications.

Secure Pharma Chain Blog, encourages the pharmaceutical supply chain in advance of regulatory mandates to deploy technology and solutions to protect their inventories and the consumer from this deadly criminal deed.

It is incumbent upon industry to lead the way to supply chain safety and protect their businesses and consumers.

To learn more about pharmaceutical supply chain safety technologies, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

To read the entire Reuters article, visit: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE64I26E20100519.

Counterfeiting, Adapt or Perish

By: Alan Clock, Senior Vice President, XStream Systems

"Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature's inexorable imperative." - H.G. Wells

For those of us knowledgeable about the issue of counterfeiting, we have long been aware of the huge growing menace that has seemingly lurked in the shadows of the collective consciousness of the public at large for some time now.

Even for those who have been at the forefront of this serious threat, which the FBI dubs “the crime of the 21st century”, currently there seems to be a heightened sense of concern about how quickly this criminal activity is proliferating. It would appear now that this threat is advancing well beyond even our own alarmist predictions.

To date, much of the death and destruction associated with counterfeiting activity has occurred off the radar screen from the populace of privileged, developed nations and instead in the isolated world of underdeveloped areas and their residents.

For some of us with the advantage of a prosperous free market system, we have been somewhat immune to the spectacle of the criminal poisoning of disadvantage populations, which happens routinely in Africa and Asia by the purveyors of this insidious transgression.

In 2010, the widely accepted World Health Organization’s estimate is that pharmaceutical counterfeits are a $75 billion industry with an annual growth percentage of 12-16%. The World Customs Institute estimates that food counterfeiting is a $49 billion annual enterprise.

According to the study of Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau of the International Chamber of Commerce counterfeit goods make up conservatively 5 - 7% of World Trade which the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition calculates would make the current global counterfeit economy the world’s biggest single business.

We now find ourselves in a perfect storm that will expand counterfeit criminal activity well beyond our wildest estimates and make it far more deadly in scope and size. The primary elements feeding this calamity include:

· a worldwide economy in a downward spiral
· ineffective regulations and laws on the crime of counterfeiting
· spotty or careless enforcement of existing laws on counterfeiting
· disjointed supply chains that cross multiple governmental boundaries and jurisdictions
· huge taxes on critical commercial markets like healthcare that are squeezing both the business and the onsumer to look for cheaper goods
· a collective lack of knowledge and leadership by governments around the globe to protect their constituents
· industries that choose to ignore the threat to their businesses instead of protecting their brand and customers
· a collective lack awareness of the deadly nature of the threat of counterfeits by consumers worldwide, most consider this a harmless act

Until now, this criminal activity, although grand in its size has really been driven by single individuals or disparate organized entities that realize how lucrative and safe this nefarious criminal activity has become. Criminals understand that counterfeiting is the perfect crime:

· there are few ways to get caught
· if they do get caught their activity carries almost no significant ramifications
· most often their crime will not be discovered for some time giving them plenty of time to cover their tracks and escape
· they have a global marketplace where they can carry out transactions anonymously in cyberspace
· the profit margin derived from counterfeiting transcends what most businesses make in a legitimate activity

Even as this perfect crime expands to educated and developed nations, we now seem at the precipice of something far more dangerous and deadly as this menace seems likely to evolve into something much larger in size and scope and far more insidious as a whole.

Many experts now fear the inevitable, when terror organizations, who are not driven by greed but rather destruction, realize the relative ease and deadly effectiveness that a purposeful counterfeiting event could trigger in a region or nation. Be it in a consumer good, food stuff, electronics or medication, one single, simple adulteration could literally harm millions with relative impunity.

Adapt or Perish, the time is now for governments, industry and consumers to understand the need for solutions to protect themselves from the various nefarious sources that threaten their health and wellbeing.

Today there are many technologies and services available that can offer protection to industry and consumers from those who would seek to profit or cause destruction. Leaders in governments and industry around the globe need to act now to protect entire populations.

Although no one solution, to date provides a single, "iron clad" solution to this scourge, when appropriately layered, these existing solutions can and do create effective and efficient security to protect supply chains and consumers from fraudulent, adulterated and counterfeit products.

To learn more about, anti-counterfeiting solutions, visit: www.xstreamsystems.net.

WSJ: No Cure for Fake Drugs

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday on an effort within Syria to reduce the use of counterfeit drugs as the problem continues to grow and remain widespread in the Middle East.

The action within Syria resulted in the seizure in millions of dollars worth of breast cancer, leukemia and other medicines, along with tens of thousands of anticoagulant pills used in treating heart attacks and other diseases.

Included in the seizure was a large amount of equipment used to make and package fake drugs. This particular action is expected to stop at least one organization’s lucrative trade of counterfeits to Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran and Egypt.

The following are some of the highlights of the story:

• Smuggling of drugs remains a widespread and dangerous problem. Figures from the World Health Organization show it can reach 35% of all drugs in the Middle East, compared to less than 1% in the U.S. and Western Europe. One confiscated shipment by the Syrian ring to Egypt contained counterfeit copies of one brand of a leukemia drugs with a street value of over $4 million -- equivalent to 50% of the annual sales of the brand.


• Distributors not only sold the fake life-saving drugs to private pharmacies but also moved deep into the public health-care system, particularly in Iraq. A huge plastic bag seen amid the Damascus counterfeit haul contained hundreds of boxes of a treatment for mouth ulcers, all bearing the logo of the Iraqi health ministry, witnesses say.


• Authorities claim that the ring busted in Syria was the main one operating in that country. A pharmaceutical-company manager said it was the main network for Egypt as well, but others are still operating in other Middle-Eastern countries.


• One reason why drug counterfeiting has thrived in the Middle East is that authorities were unprepared for the sheer scale and sophistication of counterfeits and had neither the appropriate law enforcement framework nor the legislation to tackle them.


• "When we started the investigation, we had no idea of the scale of these counterfeit networks," the Syrian official said.


• A great proportion of the fake drugs smuggled by the network to Egypt and Syria came from China, according to Syrian Health Minister Reda Saed, sometime around 2007, the ring started making its own fake drugs, using technology mostly imported from China, the Syrian officials and the pharmaceutical-company managers said.

Secure Pharma Chain Blog, endorses a layered approach to pharmaceutical supply chain security to efficiently, economically and effectively secure the inventories of manufacturers, distributors and dispensers from fraudulent and counterfeit medications.

To read the Wall Street Journal story, visit: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704533204575047282075703998.html.html.

To learn more about an effective tool in combating counterfeit medications, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

Western Europeans Spend $14.3B on Illicitly Sourced Meds

Ben Hirschler from Reuters reported on Monday that according to a Pfizer sponsored survey, Western Europeans spend an estimated $14.3 billion a year on illicitly sourced medicines, many of them counterfeit.

Some of the highlights from Hirschler’s report include:

• Germans and Italians buy the most prescription-only drugs without a prescription, either over the Internet or on overseas trips, in nightclubs, in shops and via friends.


• Counterfeit medicines often contain the wrong or even toxic ingredients and are a growing health threat worldwide, especially in poor countries, according to the World Health Organization.


• Outgoing European Union industry commissioner Guenter Verheugen said in December he was "extremely worried" about counterfeit medicines after 34 million fake tablets were seized at EU custom points in just two months.


• Jim Thomson, chairman of the European Alliance for Access to Safe Medicines, which receives funding from the drug industry, said tests by his group had shown that 62 percent of medicines purchased online were fake or substandard.


• Overall, 21 percent of 14,000 people surveyed in 14 states said they had bought medicines illicitly, with the rate ranging from 38 and 37 percent in Germany and Italy, respectively, to 12 and 10 percent in Britain and the Netherlands.


• Weight-loss medicines accounted for nearly half of all online purchases, followed by prescription treatments for flu, such as Roche's Tamiflu; pills for erectile dysfunction; quit-smoking drugs; and painkillers.

This issue of counterfeit, fraudulent and adulterated medications, which is causing a deadly healthcare crisis around the globe, energizes the need for material screening of products within the supply chain, from raw materials to dispensing, to properly protect consumers everywhere.

To read the entire Reuters story, visit: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE61E16A20100216.

To learn more about medication counterfeit solutions, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

WHO: Poor Quality Drugs Used to Treat Malaria

Both the BBC and the Associated Press are reporting on a new World Health Organization study regarding the quality of drugs used to treat malaria in Africa.

The study goes into some depth regarding the findings that up to 40% of the artemisinin drugs used to treat malaria in poor African nations are of such poor quality they are ineffective in treating the disease. In addition because these poor quality drugs contain some of the active ingredient of the drugs, they are now causing drug resistant strains of malaria.

Here are some of the highlights from the BBC story:

• The group, conducting the study for the World Health Organization, said low-grade drugs were being used in both public and private health practices.



• Some 90% of malaria deaths in the world occur in Africa.



• They found 44% of the drugs from Senegal failed the testing, followed by 30% from Madagascar and 26% from Uganda.

To read the entire BBC story, visit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8504137.stm

Some of the highlights of the Associate Press story which was published in the Chicago Tribune include:

• Between 16 percent and 40 percent of artemisinin-based drugs sold in Senegal, Madagascar and Uganda failed quality testing, including having impurities or not containing enough active ingredients, the survey found.


• Artemisinin-based drugs are the only affordable treatment for malaria left in the global medicine cabinet. Other drugs have already lost effectiveness due to resistance, which builds when not enough medicine is taken to kill all of the mosquito-transmitted parasites.



• If artemisinin-based drugs stop working, there is no good replacement and experts worry many people could die.


• "It is worrisome that almost all of the poor-quality data that was obtained was a result of inadequate amounts of active (ingredients) or the presence of impurities in the product," said Patrick Lukulay, director of a nongovernmental U.S. Pharmacopeia program funded by the U.S. government, which conducted the survey. "This is a disturbing trend that came to light."


• The study is the first part of a 10-country examination of anti-malarials in Africa by the U.S. and the World Health Organization. It follows evidence from the Thai-Cambodian border that artemisinin-based drugs there are taking longer to cure malaria patients, the first sign of drug resistance.


• The three-country report also found bad drugs in both the public and private health sectors, meaning governments — some buying medicines with donor funds — are not doing enough to keep poor-quality pills out. All of the drugs tested from the public sector in Uganda, however, passed the quality tests. But 40 percent of the artemisinin-based drugs in Senegal failed.


• "There are countries where donated medicines are not subjected to quality controls, they're just accepted," said Lukulay. "There are countries in Africa where Chinese products have been donated and found to be unacceptable later in the public sector."

To read the entire Associated Press story, visit: http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/sns-ap-med-africa-malaria-drugs,0,1354782.story.

This issue of counterfeit, fraudulent and adulterated medications, which is causing a deadly healthcare crisis around the globe, energizes the need for material screening of products within the supply chain, from raw materials to dispensing, to properly protect consumers everywhere.

To learn more about material authentication solutions, visit: www.xstreamsystems.net.

2010, the Year That Counterfeit Drugs Becomes a $75B Global Business

Alan Clock, SVP, XStream Systems, Inc.

In 2005, the Center for Medicines in the Public Interest (CMPI), released a report projecting global counterfeit drug sales to reach $75 billion in 2010. At the publication of the report, this projection was a 92% increase from the 2005 estimate of $39 billion of worldwide counterfeit drug sales.

Most global experts then and now do not dispute this estimate. In fact, many would not argue the point that today, this estimate may be entirely too conservative and the real financial impact and overall number is much higher.

In 2010, we as a society face a global health catastrophe that will impact people of all countries, race, religion and economic strata.

What will be the key factor that will turn this issue around in the new decade?

"The business of selling fake prescription drugs to unsuspecting consumers is burgeoning, and is a global industry," stated Peter Pitts in 2005, senior fellow for health care studies at the Pacific Research Institute and director of the CMPI. "Nearly $39 billion, or 11 per cent of global pharmaceutical commerce will be counterfeit this year (2005)," added Mr. Pitts. "By 2010, that number will nearly double. We must enact controls to strengthen the security of our health care system from outside threats."

At the time that this report was published, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration stated. "The increasing flow of counterfeit drugs represents a significant public health threat. We must step up our efforts to safeguard the drug supply -- we certainly should not weaken those controls."

Even with these dire predictions and public support for action in 2005, there has been little appreciable progress in the domestic and international efforts to stem the flow of this worldwide health care crisis. Regulatory, law enforcement and industry efforts to date have been inconsistent overall and seemingly lack an overall perspective of the severity and impact of this issue.

One of the most startling examples of the deadly impact of the global counterfeit medication epidemic is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) estimate that nearly 2,000 children die each day in Africa as a result of bogus drugs. Counterfeit medications in underdeveloped countries not only do not treat illness and disease but are now a major factor in creating drug resistant strains of deadly diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.

With the proliferation of counterfeit medications and the impact to people all over the world, the issue, in its extreme, is only now beginning to garner important public awareness.

The public awakening to this deadly scourge is the first critically important step in motivating public and industry leadership to move forward and take action.

With a motivated and aware public, elected and industry leaders will be encouraged to step up their efforts to protect their constituents, businesses and customers.

When properly inspired, these leaders will look to strengthening regulatory authority and in expanding their technology/ processes to thwart these nefarious sources of a deadly criminal act.

To learn more about technologies that are used to combat counterfeit medications, visit: www.xstreamsystems.net.

Are Counterfeit Products Contributing to Drug Resistant Strains of H1N1?

As reported in many media outlets, European physicians and the World Health Organization (WHO) are investigating drug resistant strains of the H1N1 virus.

To date, H1N1 has been effectively treated by anti-viral medication Tamiflu and Relenza.

As also reported in many media outlets and in SecurePharmChainBlog.com there is an emerging proliferation of organized crime organizations making hundreds of millions of dollars by counterfeiting and selling via the Internet the anti-viral drugs used to treat the H1N1 virus.

With the malaria and tuberculosis healthcare epidemics in Africa and Asia, counterfeit medications have been a significant contributor to the increase of drug resistant strains and are a considerable factor in the deaths of hundreds of thousands across the globe. In these incidents, unscrupulous counterfeiters manufacturer medications with just enough of the active ingredient to fool rudimentary testing devices. These counterfeit medications are more than just worthless, they actually facilitate drug resistant strains of the illness.

This begs the question of the correlation and impact on counterfeit drugs to the emergence of drug resistant strains of the H1N1 virus.

Are counterfeit medications contributing to drug resistant strains of the H1N1 virus?

XStream Systems encourages all drug regulatory agencies to utilize robust screening methods in the testing of all medications within the pharmaceutical supply chain. XStream's XT250 allows the end users to deploy as system within the supply chain and materially screen products for active ingredients, excepients and packaging, non-destructively, within its sealed unit-of-sale container.

To learn more about the XT250, visit XStream at: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.