Govt gears up to curb fake drugs menace

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New Delhi: whichever is more, for a person involved in the manufacture and sale of spurious drugs.

Owing to the nature of the work, there are no authentic sources that provide accurate statistics on the magnitude of the problem of spurious drugs. Although there is no consensus, various estimates put the counterfeit drug industry ranging from 0.25% to 25% of the overall pharma industry size. According to a the World Health Organization update of 2007, one in five medications sold in India’s major cities is fake. The pharma industry claims an annual revenue loss between 4-5% due to fake drugs. The industry also estimates that spurious drugs have grown from 10% to 20% of the total market. According to government of India latest estimate, the size of the pharma industry is estimated at more than Rs 60,000 crore growing at 10-15%, annually. Periodical industry estimates released also point towards a similar trend. Sale of fake and spurious drugs in the National Capital Region is estimated to be Rs 300 crore annually, which constitutes 20-25% of the total medicines sold in the region, a recent Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India survey indicated. Sales of counterfeit drugs worldwide are estimated at $32 billion, causing $46 billion annual loss to the global pharmaceutical industry, according to recent reports.

The WHO defines a counterfeit medicine as “one which is deliberately and fraudulently mislabeled with respect to identity and/or source. Counterfeiting can apply to both branded and generic products and counterfeit products may include products with the correct ingredients or with the wrong ingredients, without active ingredients, with insufficient active ingredients or with fake packaging.”

The other issue that the committee is addressing is that of diagnostic labs. Of the one lakh plus diagnostic and path labs in the country, less than one thousand have quality accreditation. Since most of the medical labs have registered under the Shops & Establishments Act and not under the Clinical Establishment, their accountability is no more than that of a grocery store or barbershop for the services they provide to their customers.

Right prescription

• One in five medications sold is fake, WHO 2007 update

• Spurious drugs have grown from 10% to 20%

• Of the one lakh plus diagnostic and path labs, less than 1,000 have quality accreditation