Thursday, April 15, 2004
Counterfeit drugs enter the market
["Fake Drugs," Daily Policy Digest, The National Center for Policy Analysis, 15 April 2004.]
As prescription drugs become more expensive, the temptation to take advantage of the market grows. Counterfeit medication is apparently a growing problem in the U.S., but still nothing compared to the troubles other countries are experiencing:
More than one billion pills are sold in this country every year. Although data is scarce, it is believed that about one percent of the drugs are counterfeit. Counterfeit drugs can enter the drug supply when if the seller conceals the drugs' origin and purchasers accept without questions the sellers' products.
In the United States counterfeiters tend to target high volume, high cost drugs. Often, counterfeiters commingle the fake drugs with the real drugs. The counterfeiters are often so well funded and sophisticated that investigators for the pharmaceutical companies often cannot tell the difference. As a result, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigations into counterfeit drugs have jumped four fold from the 1990s to 2000.
["Fake Drugs," Daily Policy Digest, The National Center for Policy Analysis, 15 April 2004.]
As prescription drugs become more expensive, the temptation to take advantage of the market grows. Counterfeit medication is apparently a growing problem in the U.S., but still nothing compared to the troubles other countries are experiencing:
More than one billion pills are sold in this country every year. Although data is scarce, it is believed that about one percent of the drugs are counterfeit. Counterfeit drugs can enter the drug supply when if the seller conceals the drugs' origin and purchasers accept without questions the sellers' products.
In the United States counterfeiters tend to target high volume, high cost drugs. Often, counterfeiters commingle the fake drugs with the real drugs. The counterfeiters are often so well funded and sophisticated that investigators for the pharmaceutical companies often cannot tell the difference. As a result, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigations into counterfeit drugs have jumped four fold from the 1990s to 2000.
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