How to detect medicine
Significance

The WHO estimates that up to 1% of medicines available in high-income countries and 10% of drugs globally are likely to be counterfeit.

Join us on November 12-13 for the 2024 Symposium on Public Health Strategies for Combating Substandard and Falsified Drugs

The 2024 Symposium on Public Health Strategies for Combating Substandard and Falsified (SF) Drugs will be held at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, DC. Hosted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the event will bring together global leaders, policymakers, and experts to address the critical issue of substandard and falsified drugs affecting public health worldwide.

How to check for counterfeit medicines?

Checking for counterfeit medicines requires a combination of vigilance, careful inspection, and verification. Here are steps you can take to check for counterfeit medicines: Read More

How to avoid counterfeit medicines?

Important resources

Up to two billion people around the world lack access to necessary medicines, vaccines, medical devices including in vitro diagnostics,  and other health products, which creates a vacuum that is too often filled by substandard and falsified products. This problem is growing as global supply chains become more complex, meaning products manufactured in one country may be packaged in a second country and distributed across borders to be marketed or sold to consumers in a third.

World Substandard and falsified medical productsOrganization
FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program
Sharing Information on the Counterfeiting of Pharmaceuticals

Public health responses to counterfeit drugs

Although the adverse health impact of counterfeit and falsified medicines is catastrophic, it is difficult to measure the overall public health burden, the number of deaths and cases of complications, and economic loss due to counterfeit and illegal drugs. Read More

Public health responses to counterfeit drugs
A Scientist detecting medicine

Stay Informed with the Latest News and Updates from Be Safe

Fake Drugs, Real Dangers

As counterfeit medications proliferate, researchers work to alert doctors and patients to the risks.

Symposium Executive Summary

A first of its kind Symposium on public health strategies for combating counterfeit drugs.

be safe team

Symposium Report: 2023

The symposium, part of the BESAFE project, is supported with funding from Pfizer Inc.

No Country is Immune From The Threat of Counterfeit Drugs.

No country is immune; counterfeit drugs were found in every continent and almost every country, from Australia to Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria, to Panama.  According to the 2020 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report the primary countries from which adulterated pharmaceuticals originate are considered to be China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and India. Read More