Dubai: Fake drug manufacturers are targeting expensive medicines such as those used for cancer, an expert in pharmacoeconomics warned here on Monday.
“The drugs will either dissolve in water, have only sugar syrup, and worse, could have just 20 per cent of the active ingredients,” said Albert I. Wertheimer, professor of Pharmacoeconomics at Temple University, Philadelphia.
He said some counterfeit drugs would make patients’ conditions worse as some of the ingredients may be something that the fake manufacturers just happen to have in their warehouse.
The professor was speaking on the sidelines of the International and Pharmaceuticals and Technologies Conference that opened in Dubai.
“We all should be worried as it is a worldwide problem and it costs the counterfeiters nothing to manufacture these drugs,” he said.
The doctor said the drugs are made mostly in Asia and Nigeria and according to World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates ten per cent of drugs worldwide are fake.
But he said this varies from place to place and in Central Africa and Sub-Sahara Africa it could be as high as 70 per cent where there are no authorities there to curtail this trade.
Vigilant
The doctor said that in sophisticated systems such as in the Gulf or North America and Europe, the incidence of fake drugs is less than one per cent.
But he urged everyone to be vigilant and look out for fake drugs.
“It does not cost much to manufacture and distribute these drugs. They use various routes such as through industrial orders, or smuggled with other products. The drugs are so small that one person carrying a suitcase can bring in hundreds of bottles,” he said.
The professor said that earlier when a drug did not work the doctor suspected a lack of compliance by the patient, or that they were lying to their physician about taking their medicine on time. “Doctors and pharmacists should be vigilant in situations such as these and not dismiss the fact the drug may be a fake.”
Dr Wertheimer said the counterfeiters target countries such as the Gulf states where people can afford up-to-date and expensive drugs and where health insurance covers the cost.
A senior Ministry of Health official earlier said there are measures in place to counter imports of fake medicines that are used to treat conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.
According to a major pharmaceutical firm that took part earlier in a conference on counterfeit medicine, fake drugs comprise only one per cent of the UAE market.
According to the head of intellectual property rights at Dubai Customs, Dubai appeals to smugglers as it sits at the node of several transit points and goods bound for various countries pass through its ports.
