Counterfeit drugs "kill 700,000 people a year"

A new report from London, UK-based think-tank the International Policy Network details the burden of counterfeit drugs in less-developed  countries. Fake tuberculosis and malaria agents alone are estimated to  kill 700,000 people a year. The group described the casualty rate as  "equivalent to four fully-laden jumbo jets crashing every day."

The studies authors claim that counterfeit and substandard medicines can  constitute one third of the pharmaceutical supply in certain African  countries. These result in unnecessary death and increased levels of  drug resistance. Among the IPN's findings: nearly half the drugs sold in  Angola, Burundi and Congo are substandard; about two thirds of  artesunate medicines in Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam contain  insufficient active ingredient; and most fake agents originate from  China and India.

Current attempts to deal with the problem through tougher regulation and  criminal penalties do not address the root causes of counterfeiting.  Worse still, the IPN argues, "many countries have corrupt regulatory and  legal systems that are easily exploited by criminal counterfeiters, so  additional rules will only increase corruption." Governments may also  exacerbate the problem by making legitimate drugs more expensive through  taxes and tariffs (Marketletters passim).