Counterfeit drug problem worldwide is "murderous attack on the sick," says WHO

Drug counterfeiting is expected to double by 2010 if more effective measures are not taken by governments and drugmakers, according to the World Health Organization, at a time when evidence of the scale of the problem is mounting, especially in developing countries.

Speaking at a US government-sponsored regional conference in Dakar, Senegal, the WHO's anti-counterfeiting task force coordinator, Valerio Reggi, described fake drug trafficking as a "murderous attack on the sick." The event gathered representatives from the government authorities of nine west African countries as well as from the drug industry to discuss the growing threat.

Mr Reggi also reported that a recent study in Burkina Faso found that 70% of the counterfeit drugs identified on the illegal market did not even carry expiration dates, which suggests that labeling is not the primary problem.