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Letters to the Editor
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Counterfeit medicines
Do not blame counterfeits on parallel trade
From Mr R. Freudenberg
The article by David Taylor, “Dealing
with the EU counterfeit threat”, in The Pharmaceutical Journal (25 November, p638) once
again paints a highly misleading picture of the role of parallel medicines
in the legitimate supply chain.
As the author himself states, “there have been no recorded deaths
resulting from medicines counterfeiting in the EU”, and indeed
the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority has confirmed
on many occasions that there has been no case of counterfeits in the
UK entering the legitimate supply chain via parallel trade. Former Secretary
of State for Health, Jane Kennedy, underlined this fact in July 2005
when she said that “there is no evidence to suggest that licensed
parallel trade provides any more of an opportunity to introduce counterfeit
medicines into the country over non-parallel traded products”.
Professor Taylor claims that “there are opportunities for both
error and … the deliberate insertion of fake products”. This
is simply not the case. The industry is subject to strict national and
European regulations and is required to keep meticulous batch records
of all sales and purchases. In fact, parallel imports are subject to
a level of secondary checking which drugs distributed direct from manufacturer
to wholesaler are not.
He also claims the impact of parallel importing on the overall economy
is negative. However, a recent report by renowned Danish health economist
Kjeld Møller Pedersen showed direct savings in the UK were £162m.
The study also suggested savings could be larger if parallel distributors
could secure more supplies and if governments put in place effective
systems that encourage savings.
Health experts and the pharmaceutical industry are right to worry about
the worldwide risk of counterfeits. But they are looking in the wrong
place when putting the spotlight on parallel distributors who provide
a valuable service to patients and national health care systems by providing
safe and more affordable access to innovative branded medicines.
Richard Freudenberg
Secretary-General
British Association of European Pharmaceutical Distributors
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal