[Counterfeit and Falsified Drugs: an Overview]

Abstract

If the traffic of fake medicines may represent an economic threat for the pharmaceutical industry, it can also be responsible of safety concerns for patients. Despite fake drugs represent a real threat for public health, the intended punishments are until now only based on intellectual property rights. Estimated to generate more than 55 billion euros per year, the traffic of falsified drugs varies from a country to another one. Indeed, the proportion of falsified drugs ranges from 1% in industrialized countries with a regulated and controlled distribution system to 60% of medicines in some developing countries. Currently, the measures developed to limit this traffic concern five main areas: legislation / regulation, cooperation, enforcement, technology and communication. Communication actions should be performed to inform health professionals as the populations about the risks of using drugs purchased outside the legal drug market.