Punishment of drug counterfeiting in USA needs reform, says CMPI

The penalties for drug counterfeiting must be reformed to discourage the practise, instead of US states trying to dictate safety standards on drugmakers, according to the Center for Medicines in the Public Interest. Peter Pitts, president of the New York-based think-tank, argued that attempts by the largest US state, California, to impose radio-frequency identification (RFID) on drug packaging has stalled, in part because of the technical demands and high implementation costs (Marketletters passim).

Writing in the Orange County Register, Mr Pitts explained that "the law's problem...was that it would have imposed back-breaking costs on pharmaceutical manufacturers and dramatically inflated drug prices for consumers - while doing little to undermine counterfeiters."

One problem is that every pharmacy would be required to install equipment priced at $10,000-$40,000 with no financial assistance from public authorities, the CMPI president said.