When it comes to finding a cure for counterfeit meds, a growing problem worldwide, big pharma can be its own worst enemy. A coalition of industry and public health groups has been plagued by tension due to differing motivations and the varied methods that need to be employed to combat counterfeiting, according to The Financial Times.

Dora Akunyili, the head of Nafdac, Nigeria’s medicines agency, tells the newspaper that most of the fake drugs in her country are made abroad, notably in India and China. She wants an international convention enforced by UN sanctions to impose heavy criminal fines on counterfeiters who today often face only modest penalties.

She argues that many companies from the developed world are too focused on controlling Internet sales of “lifestyle” drugs such as Viagra. “This is not a problem that can be compared with what we are going through,” she says. “They worry about the Internet when we don’t even have electricity.”

There are also divisions within the industry. Some drugmakers define counterfeiting too broadly. They lump criminal groups in with legal activities that threaten their business - generic drug companies; “parallel importers” who arbitrage the price differences of drugs between different countries; and developing manufacturers who need assistance to improve their products.

Furthermore, while many public health advocates stress the importance of communication to alert regulators and patients alike to fakes, drugmakers remain secretive, partly out of fear of provoking panic and damaging their brand reputation, the newspaper goes on to report.

In the US, for instance, industry warnings have largely fallen on deaf ears. Despite a well-publicized run of fake Lipitor a few years ago, most Americans seem to believe that industry cries are really a scare tactic designed to throttle Internet sites or Canadian pharmacies. The problem is not so simple, unfortunately.

Yet it would be a shame if such suspicions overwhelmed good judgement in the face of a true rash of counterfeiting. But in an era of high prices, drugmakers shouldn’t be surprised that their warnings are met with cynicism. Perhaps if industry invested more on updated technology - and spent less energy on shrill rhetoric - Americans would take the problem seriously.

The full story is here (subscription may be required);

Further reading…
A WHO fact sheet.
Reuters.
[tags]Counterfeit[/tags]