Pharmaceuticals policy

Fake Scare About Fake Drugs

IPN Opinion article

Author: Philip Stevens

EU pharmaceutical seizures are a good thing for India and for patients

Drug-fuelled dreams of local production

IPN Critical Opinion articles

Author: Franklin Cudjoe

Corruption fuels spread of fake drugs business

IPN Opinion article

A barrage of email spam highlights the dangers from bad drugs as everyone worries about swine flu but the plague of counterfeits is constant threat everywhere and particularly in poor countries. Taxes and corruption make business difficult or impossible for legitimate medicines but open the field to counterfeit dealers who can pay the bribes and make huge profits on their cheap imitations.

India: Urgent steps are needed to ensure quality medicines

IPN Opinion article

Author: Barun Mitra

The WHO is trying to fight the huge international trade in counterfeits but faces opposition from India and others, driven by a strange coalition ranging from the far Left to business organisations: this author blows away some of the straw men these people have built up. Barun Mitra says robust trademark protection will give Indian companies a stake in quality and give Indian, and worldwide, patients the guarantees that they need.

Vested Interests in Deadly Medicines

IPN Opinion article

Author: Bright Simons

Counterfeit drugs are flooding into Africa, where up to one in three medicines can be fake, causing widespread suffering and death.