European full-line wholesalers adopt zero tolerance on counterfeit medicines

The European Association of Pharmaceutical Full-line Wholesalers, the GIRP, has issued a statement condemning counterfeit medicines and showing how its members play an important part in fighting such practices.

Counterfeit medicines endanger the health and lives of citizen, it says, noting that the incidents of such pharmaceuticals have to be considered as very serious criminal offenses, as they put human lives in peril. Counterfeit medicines undermine the integrity of health systems and they damage the health of European citizens, a sentiment also expressed at a recent think-tank meeting in Brussels, Belgium (Marketletter February 27.

Internet and mail-order sales of medicines are widely considered to be the primary portals through which counterfeit medicines enter the market. Consumers and patients alike should be fully alert of the dangers in obtaining medicines through these channels, which are devoid of any involvement of a qualified pharmacist, the GIRP warns. There are hundreds of thousands of uncertified sources from which to acquire medicinal products, it says, which are impossible to control. These uncontrolled sources clearly pose the greatest risk for counterfeits entering the market, the association states.