The Rotten Pill

With technological advancements, pharma companies can also explore new generation anti-counterfeiting technologies. In the last of the series of six articles, Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) reveals more

People can still live with fake handbags and shoes but cannot afford to live with fake medicines.

Fake medicines are a growing concern like cough syrup for children that contained a powerful opioid. Antimalarial pills and sometimes antibiotics that were just made of potato and cornstarch. These are, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), just a few examples of poor-quality or fake medicines identified in recent years. In fact, “1 in 10 medical products circulating in low and middle-income countries is either substandard or falsified.” That includes pills, vaccines and diagnostic kits.

More than anything such substandard and fake medicines may cause harm to patients and fail to treat the diseases for which they were intended. They erode the confidence in medicines and in the health system itself.

What is shocking is the WHO estimates that 35 per cent of fake drugs sold all over the world come from India. Other industry observers have said the market in spurious drugs in India could be worth as much as $8 billion (` 50,000 crore, as per current exchange rates)!