What are counterfeit Medicines?
Counterfeit medicine is one which is deliberately and fraudulently mislabeled with respect to identity and 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 WHO also estimates 1% to 10% of drugs sold worldwide are counterfeits.
- The WHO estimates that counterfeit pneumonia drugs cause the death of between 72,000 and 169,000 children annually, and fake anti-malarial drugs cause 116,000 deaths annually.
- It was estimated that worldwide sales of counterfeit drugs increased from US$ 3.5 billion per year in 2005 to US$ 200 to 432 billion in recent years.
- In 2022, 6,615 pharmaceutical crime incidents were reported, 10% higher compared to 2021.
