Countering the Counterfeits

According to the European Commission, seizures of counterfeit pharmaceuticals in Europe rose five-fold in 2006 compared with 2005, with a huge proportion of the counterfeits emerging from the rapidly expanding, but less regulated economies of India and China. Indeed, the EC claims that India, the United Arab Emirates and China account for over 80 per cent of the fake medicines entering Europe. Similarly, the World Health Organization (WHO) has concluded that the majority of counterfeits are produced within developing countries, and a recent report from WHO indicates that India is responsible for about 35 per cent of the world’s fake drugs. The same report puts the value of the illicit trade at approximately $200 million.

Whilst most countries recognise intellectual property rights and patents, and therefore recognise counterfeits as illegal, it is clear that some jurisdictions are not totally committed to enforcing their own regulations. Others do not even consider counterfeiting as a crime. Political corruption has often been a driving force for poor regulation, which in some cases encourages counterfeiting, or at the very least provides no deterrent. There is no doubt that some ‘businessmen’ have discovered that the counterfeiting of medicines is lucrative and relatively low risk, and there is even anecdotal evidence that a few companies may be producing legitimate goods at one end of the factory and counterfeits at the other.

If organised criminals have been ready to seize the opportunity to create great profits for themselves, it is partly down to the industry’s failure to plug the gaps in its own systems and to recognise the areas in which it is most vulnerable. One thing that characterises virtually every criminal activity is that the criminal chooses the easiest route to make his money, according to how much he hopes to gain. It is comparable to the fact that the petty thief is more likely to snatch a purse left exposed on a supermarket trolley than attempt to pick the pocket of a shopper.