The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7480 p609
1 December 2007

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Anti-counterfeiting strategy

Counterfeit medicines are the focus of a new three-year strategy developed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

Launching the strategy at an MHRA conference in London last week, health minister Dawn Primarolo said: “The threat of counterfeit medicines is not one that can be dealt with effectively by any one company, regulator or country. It is a problem that requires a complicated national approach and a co-ordinated international effort.”

She described the strategy as a sustained programme of communication, collaboration and regulation, which tackles the availability of counterfeit medicines through the internet as well as pharmacies.

Hemant Patel, President of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, commented: “There is a need to identify weaknesses in the current supply chains and to take steps to strengthen and protect them.”

He revealed that the Society is currently in the process of agreeing a memorandum of understanding with the MHRA to formalise the working relationship between the two bodies.


News feature p616