Counterfeit (fake) Drugs & New Technologies to Identify It in India

A counterfeit medicine is one which is deliberately and fraudulently mislabeled with respect to identity or source. Counterfeiting apply to both branded and generic product which include products with the wrong ingredients, without active ingredients, with insufficient active ingredients. According to WHO, 25% of medicines consumed in poor countries could be counterfeit or below standard.An estimate suggests that these drugs are a $200 billion industry worldwide. India could be an easy target for counterfeits, as the manufacturing costs is 40% cheaper here as compared to other countries. Deputy drug controller general of India says, counterfeit medicines often resemble the originals in chemical composition, but he thinks the biggest problem is in the packaging. A committee set up by the Indian Ministry of Health has approved a proposal to put 2D bar codes and scratch-off labels on medicines. The user scratches off the cover and tests what is underneath to a free phone number, to find out if a pill is real. Quick Response (QR) codes are also being tested. These printed squares are an advanced version of the 2D bar codes. Anyone with a camera-enabled phone and web access can scan the code and be taken instantly to the pharmacy company website to authenticate the drug. The uses of holograms, tracers, traggants and inks, plastic tags, radio frequency identification, mass encryption technology are some other techniques to limit the counterfeiting of drugs. INTRODUCTION: Counterfeit drug is a pharmaceutical product which is produced and sold with the intent to deceptively represent its origin, authenticity or effectiveness. It may contain inappropriate quantities of active ingredients, may be improperly processed within the body or may contain ingredients that are not on the label, and is often sold with inaccurate, incorrect, or fake packaging and labeling. The phenomenon of drug counterfeiting is relatively recent, having first been identified as an emerging problem by the WHO in 1985. Since then the scale of the problem has substantially increased to the point that, today, it is estimated that more than 10% of drugs worldwide are counterfeit, and in some countries more than 50% of the drug supply is counterfeit . Until recently, the most frequently counterfeited medicines in wealthy countries were new, expensive lifestyle medicines, such as hormones, steroids and antihistamines. In developing countries the most counterfeited medicines have been those used to treat lifethreatening conditions such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. As the phenomenon spreads, more and more medicines are counterfeited, including expensive ones, such as anticancer drugs, and those highly in demand, such as antivirals.