The Problems Of Drug Counterfeiting

By Author: Ruben Marcus
Total Articles: 18
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A brand is a company’s identity and the most important characteristic that provides the consumer with immediate recognition. Brands are unique; therefore important steps must be taken by the companies to ensure that they are never imitated. When a product or a brand is duplicated and sold in the gray market, it is known as counterfeiting. Counterfeiting greatly affects the pharmaceutical industry. Counterfeit drugs are being sold widely that are deceiving innumerable people. Outsourcing counterfeit drugs to low cost regions of the world are one of the major mal-practices today. This leads to heavy losses in the pharmaceutical companies. These fake drugs may contain wrong medical constituents in wrong amounts and sometimes the ingredients are inactive. Counterfeit drugs are extremely dangerous and it can lead to numerous side effects, disabilities and sometimes even death. Several drug anti-counterfeiting technologies are being opted the pharmaceutical industries to prevent counterfeiters to produce fake drugs.

The ...
... FDA UDI of medical devices has been designed to offer useful solution that intends to channelize a standard way of presenting standardized information in a standard format or barcode. Several useful information such as manufacturing and expiry date, the ingredients, serial number and many more can be included in this device. The reason for the alarming increase of fake drugs can be attributed to reasons such as derisory regulations, inadequate prosecution and penalties and lack of consumer knowledge. Therefore, an UDI system will enable early detection of fake drugs and defective devices that will facilitate patient’s safety and reduction of medical errors. It will provide a single and globally-accepted source for effective identification of medical equipments and drugs. UDI will not only make it possible to rapidly identify devices but it will also provide swift solution for confirmed health problems. It may also reduce the cost of moving medical devices in the international market.

A label is a concise explanation of a product and it is given for the purpose of identification. Pharmaceutical product labeling are bar codes, labels and seals of approval. This stores relevant information about the product content, ingredients, manufacture date, dosage and several other related that affirm its authenticity. Each of these information is important and even a small misprint can lead to dire consequences. Crucial factors such as safety and integrity is determined through its labeling. The primary purpose of a label is to provide clear and unambiguous information for patients that further promote the medicinal device or drug.