China heads 6 nations leading origins of counterfeit pharma products
The United States government has cited the Philippines as a leading source of fake pharmaceutical products, along with China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Pakistan.
In its 2022 Special 301 Report released Thursday, the US Trade Representative (USTR) cited a study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), which highlighted the global trade in counterfeit and pirated goods, which was estimated at $464 billion in 2019, accounting for 2.5 percent of all goods traded in that year.
The OECD report, “Global Trade in Fakes: A Worrying Threat,” said China continues to be the largest origin economy for counterfeit and pirated goods, accounting, along with Hong Kong, for more than 85 percent of global seizures of counterfeit goods from 2017 to 2019.
“This past year, countries continue to report significant quantities of counterfeit imports from China, including COVID-19 testing kits, personal protective equipment (PPE) such as those air-purifying particulate respirators meeting US Department of Health certification standards (N95) and equivalent masks, sanitizers, detergents, and disinfectants,” the USTR said.
“In the first year of the pandemic alone, US Customs and Border Control (CBP) seized more than 30 million counterfeit face masks, (as) 14 US brands are the most popular targets for counterfeiters, and counterfeit US-brand medicines account for 38 percent of global counterfeit medicine seizures.”
The Department of Health (DOH) has yet to react to the USTR report as of press time.
But last January, amid the high demand for paracetamol and other medicines for flu-like symptoms, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—an agency under the DOH—warned the public and healthcare professionals against the proliferation of counterfeit over-the-counter drugs.
It reminded consumers to purchase drug products only from FDA-licensed establishments, as the agency noted that the counterfeit drugs have different features from the legitimate products.
It said the “logos, security marks, knurlings, print colors and appearances” of authentic products are different from the counterfeit ones. It posted on its website photos comparing authentic from counterfeit drug products.
According to the FDA, among the products that have counterfeit versions include Paracetamol, Phenylpropanolamine HCl/Chlorphenamine Maleate; Carbocisteine, and Dextromethorphan HBr.
Last week, the Bureau of Customs (BOC), in coordination with other government agencies, confiscated fake and unregistered health products from China worth P31.5 million during separate operations in Manila.
In one of his weekly “Talk to the People” televised messages last February, President Rodrigo Duterte told authorities to inject the fake medicines into those selling them.
“The [fake] drugs seized from them, you keep it for the courts’ intervention. You preserve the body of the crime,” Duterte said, addressing FDA Deputy Director Oscar Gutierrez.
“Now, if there are already too many of them, my suggestion to the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) and the CIDG (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group): ‘Tell them [sellers] to keep half of what was confiscated. Let them take it—slowly,” the President added.
The USTR report said the manufacture and distribution of pharmaceutical products and active pharmaceutical ingredients bearing counterfeit trademarks is a growing problem that has important consequences for consumer health and safety, exacerbated by the rapid growth of illegitimate online sales
The agency noted that counterfeiting contributes to the proliferation of substandard, unsafe medicines that do not conform to established quality standards.
While it may not be possible to determine an exact figure, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that substandard or falsified medical products comprise 10 percent of total medical products in low and middle-income countries.
The Special 301 Report is an annual review of the global state of IP protection and enforcement.
The USTR reviewed more than 100 trading partners for the 2022 Special 301 Report and placed 27 countries on the Priority Watch List or Watch List, indicating problems with respect to intellectual property rights protection, enforcement or market access for persons relying on intellectual property.
The Philippines, which was put on the list in 1989, was removed in 2014 and has been off the list since then.
In its Special 301 Report this year, the USTR urged countries to adopt laws and enforcement practices designed to prevent unauthorized camcording, such as laws that have been adopted in the Philippines, Canada, Japan, and Ukraine.
