Counterfeit Medicine Kills!

According to the World Health Organization, more than 120,000 people die each year from counterfeit and substandard malaria and tuberculosis medications.

Nearly 11% of drugs sold in poor and developing countries are counterfeited, while the majority of child mortality from malaria and pneumonia is due to counterfeit or under-the-counter medicines. Infection-based diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis, can gain resistance and lead to more significant problems due to drugs that are produced under standard and contain the necessary active substances.

Especially in poor and developing countries, due to reasons such as high-profit margins, lack of regulation and control, lack of information and complicated supply chains, the amount of counterfeit and illegal drugs increases and causes hundreds of thousands of deaths.

The combination of the abovementioned factors and distribution from one country to another explains why some states and their population are more exposed to such crimes than others and why counterfeit medicine smuggling has expanded significantly worldwide.

We can explain the details of the factors and more we mentioned above:

1. High-profit margins: Producing medicine that complies with the standards is time-consuming and costly but it is easier and cheaper to provide a physical appearance.

2. Low risk of penalty: Most countries do not have the necessary laws and sanctions against counterfeit drug producers and sellers. Some countries have them but they are not fully implemented. If caught, those who do fake medicine get the same penalty as those who sell counterfeit branded clothes.

3. Inadequate health services and insurance: In many poor and developing countries, health services are either too costly or insufficient, so patients tend to use cheap medicines, the origin of which still needs to be discovered.

4. Medicines crossing borders easily: Due to globalization, international trade has been rapidly concentrated and the procedures necessary to control the products passing through the borders have been made at a different pace.

5. Internet providing anonymity: In recent years, it has opened up a new door for counterfeit drug dealers, allowing them to use the internet for counterfeit drug sales and giving them anonymity.

6. Sensitivities of the supply chains: The more complex the supply chains get, the more ways the counterfeit drug sellers can find into the system.

7. Parallel trade: Parallel trade is possible because of the principle of free movement of goods in the EU countries, whereby counterfeit and illegal drugs are introduced.

These factors we mentioned are only part of the fact that counterfeit medicines still appear in the market. With the laws and sanctions imposed by each country, the distribution of counterfeit drugs on the market is going through different ways and costs hundreds of thousands of people’s lives.