PSM Applauds INTERPOL, Industry Partnership to Combat Counterfeit Medicines
March
12, 2013 (Washington, D.C.) – The Partnership for Safe Medicines
(PSM), the leading advocacy organization dedicated to fighting the spread of
counterfeit drugs, applauds today’s
announcement of a bold new initiative between INTERPOL
and the pharmaceutical industry to combat the global health threat of
counterfeit and fake medicines.
This new initiative broadens the scope of the
successful Medical Product Counterfeiting and Pharmaceutical Crime Unit through
the creation of a Pharmaceutical Crime Program to assist and enhance worldwide
law enforcement efforts. Thomas Kubic, PSM Board Member and CEO of the
Pharmaceutical Security Institute, released the following statement hailing the
new agreement:
Image courtesy of INTERPOL.
March
12, 2013 (Washington, D.C.) – The Partnership for Safe Medicines
(PSM), the leading advocacy organization dedicated to fighting the spread of
counterfeit drugs, applauds today’s
announcement of a bold new initiative between INTERPOL
and the pharmaceutical industry to combat the global health threat of
counterfeit and fake medicines.
This new initiative broadens the scope of the
successful Medical Product Counterfeiting and Pharmaceutical Crime Unit through
the creation of a Pharmaceutical Crime Program to assist and enhance worldwide
law enforcement efforts. Thomas Kubic, PSM Board Member and CEO of the
Pharmaceutical Security Institute, released the following statement hailing the
new agreement:
“Counterfeit medicines threaten the
lives of millions of people around the world, and finding ways to address such
a complex, far-reaching issue requires ever-increasing global cooperation. The
partnership announced today between INTERPOL and 28 of the world’s largest
pharmaceutical companies is just the kind of progress we need to help keep
patients safe from this global health menace.
“The three-year agreement is a positive
step forward for anti-counterfeiting efforts, fostering heightened cooperation
between INTERPOL, the biopharmaceutical industry, and law enforcement agencies
that goes above and beyond INTERPOL’s ongoing successful activities to combat
pharmaceutical crime.
“The sad truth is that patients don’t even
realize the scope of the problem of counterfeit medicines, as well as the
lengths that criminals will go to prey upon unsuspecting victims. Efforts like
this new initiative will go a long way to not only help stop counterfeits from
reaching their medicine cabinets, but also raise awareness of the dangers of
fake drugs. Just in the U.S. last year, the FDA warned 370 doctors in 38 states
that they could have purchased counterfeit medications, and in some countries
up to 40% of their medicine supply may be counterfeit, which is simply
unacceptable. PSM applauds INTERPOL and the biopharmaceutical industry on this
new partnership, and we look forward to seeing the results of their hard work
on an issue of such global significance.”
According to INTERPOL, the new program will
involve training, capacity building and enforcement actions along with efforts
to raise public awareness, and will include actions to disrupt and dismantle
organized crime networks engaging in pharmaceutical crime. More information
about the program can be found at www.interpol.int.