Substandard and falsified drugs are a widespread global threat and a serious problem. In fact, according to a recent collection of journal articles, scientists from the University of North Carolina reported that up to 41% of 17,000 tested drug samples failed to meet quality standards. Not only do these sub-par drugs harm health, but they increase antimicrobial resistance and can undermine decades of successful efforts to
combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other serious diseases.

The articles, funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, refer to the long-standing problem of substandard drugs as a “global pandemic,” and look at potential solutions to reducing the harm they cause each year.  Jim Herrington, a University of North Carolina public health professor who co-edited the articles, said “[t]he pandemic of falsified and substandard medicines is pervasive and underestimated.” He stresses that substandard drugs are an issue “particularly in low- and middle-income countries where drug and regulatory systems are weak or non-existent.”

A recent Washington Post article on the journal articles adds that “although the problem of counterfeit drugs is most pervasive in poor countries dealing with malaria and other infectious diseases, it also affects medicines for cancer, cardiovascular disease and other serious illnesses around the globe.” It reiterates that drug counterfeiting is most common in countries without strong regulations and ways to enforce existing laws, with 10 to 30% of medicines sold in developing countries being counterfeit.

To remediate the problem, the research suggests policy interventions, including an international framework and the adoption of stricter national laws against drug counterfeiting. In addition, it emphasizes the need for collaboration among those with expertise in policy, science, technology, surveillance, epidemiology and logistics, in order to secure global supply chains. Lastly, it discusses new methodologies to test drug quality that are emerging, including simple and more sophisticated approaches.

With the problem of substandard drugs being so widespread and dangerous, we encourage consumers to check all online pharmacy sites before they buy using the LegitScript Pharmacy Verification Tool, and educate themselves about the dangers of illegitimate online pharmaceuticals and pharmacies.

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The Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies (CSIP) and our 13 member companies have the shared goal of helping address the growing problem of consumer access to illegitimate pharmaceutical products on the Internet. Continue to read this blog for updates on CSIP’s education, enforcement and information-sharing efforts.