INTERPOL and Pharma launch global initiative to combat fake medicines

Combating the global scourge of fake medicines, which threatens the health of millions of people, is the focus of a landmark agreement between INTERPOL and 29 of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. The companies supporting the effort include drug and biotech giants Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Eisai, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Merck & Co, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche and Sanofi.

The three-year deal, worth 4.5 million euros ($5.8 million), will see the creation of INTERPOL’s Pharmaceutical Crime Program to further build on the work of its Medical Product Counterfeiting and Pharmaceutical Crime (MPCPC) unit. This will enhance the law enforcement community’s response to pharmaceutical crime through stronger partnership development.

The program will focus on the prevention of all types of pharmaceutical crime including branded and generic drug counterfeiting as well as the identification and dismantling of organized crime networks linked to this illegal activity, which generates millions in illicit profits every year. The World Health Organization estimates sales of medicines that are counterfeit, contaminated or otherwise illegal total $430 billion a year.