At a conference held at Prague on Tuesday, the World Health Organization along with twenty technological companies discussed various means to combat the movement of fake drugs especially in developing countries.
Howard Zucker, WHO assistant director-general for health technology, told that sale of spurious drugs in some of the poorer nations account for more than 25% of the total drug sales. He said that this issue needs the intervention of experts to chalk out a strategy that is specific for a particular nation. Some of the measures discussed in the conference included bar codes, holograms, digital water marks and radio tags.Zucker pointed to the internet as the main reason for the spread of fake drugs business in developing and under developed countries. This problem has assumed a greater significance for health care professionals as well as drug firms as it affects their profits. Harvey Bale from International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations opined that tough governmental legislations with strict enforcement can bring in a positive change in controlling this trade.
This meeting is reported to be the first of its kind which highlighted the need to control the movement of fake drugs.
Source-Medindia
JYT
