Samantha Gompel, the Intellectual Property Rights Communications Manager at the World Customs Organization (WCO), described the WCO’s efforts to help its 179 members secure and protect supply chains throughout global trade.

When a drug counterfeiter makes fake medication, they do not go through dosage testing, quality control, or safety testing. The goal is to produce a product that looks like the real thing, with little concern for the actual ingredients. For this reason, all manner of toxic substances have made their way into counterfeit medication.

With the explosive growth of global medication counterfeiting crime rings, it is essential for policy makers across all disciplines to familiarize themselves with the counterfeit drug problem in the United States.

At PSM’s 2014 Interchange Gillian Buckley shared the Institute of Medicine’s Board on Global Health’s recommendations on how to stop the flow of fake medicines by supporting regulatory authorities and drug manufacturers in low to middle income countries.

Patients are always seeking ways to save money on medications and if they’re not careful they can open themselves up to dishonest vendors selling fake drugs. Learn how to save money safely.

Learn how health care professionals can protect patients from counterfeit drugs by sourcing medicines safely.

Dr. Tim Mackey shared his American Cancer Society funded research with attendees at Interchange 2014. Titled After Avastin, What Have We Learned and What Can Be Done? Mackey’s research took a multidisciplinary approach to examining the data, using FDA warnings plus GIS and network analysis to try to draw conclusions as to what can be done to prevent another counterfeit Avastin-type incident in the United States.