Interchange 2014 Highlights: Pharmaceutical Security Institute CEO Tom Kubic Summarizes This Year’s Drug Counterfeiting, Diversion and Theft Statistics.
At last year’s Interchange, we were pleased to have Tom Kubic, PSM’s treasurer and the president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Security Institute (PSI), summarize trends in international drug counterfeiting activity and enforcement.
At last year's Interchange, we were pleased to have Tom Kubic introduce our first panel by summarizing trends in international drug counterfeiting activity and enforcement. Kubic is PSM's treasurer, but he's also the president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Security Institute (PSI), a membership organization that shares information about the counterfeiting of pharmaceuticals and initiating enforcement actions through the appropriate authorities. Each year PSI collects data about pharmaceutical crime from media reports, member company submissions and public-private sector partnerships.
In 2013, PSI documented 2,193 drug counterfeiting, illegal diversion and theft incidents involving 124 countries and 317 different medicines in 2013–the highest ever total number of unique incidents and illegal diversion incidents in the report's 12 year history. These incidents had a real impact on patients. "Globally," Kubic said, "there were 426 incidents where we found counterfeit medicines and diverted medicines that had actually entered the legitimate supply chain, reached licensed wholesalers and distributors in 49 different countries."
In better news, Kubic noted that enforcement had been more effective this year than in previous years. PSI documented an 18% increase in arrests over 2012 and law enforcement dismantled 63 illegal manufacturing operations; 26 more than in 2012. "That's the ultimate goal for a lot of these types of investigations…if we can move away from the street level dealers and focus efforts internationally on the major players who are manufacturing we'll have a much better impact."
You can hear all of Tom's presentation on YouTube: