PHM-Exch> Why and How to Make an International Crime of Medicine Counterfeiting (3)

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Intal - Wim De Ceukelaire <wim.deceukelaire at intal.be>

Garance is right to call for caution. What's the problem actually? The fact
that a certain medicine is counterfeit or that it's substandard? It depends
on who you would ask this question to. For the pharma business it's the
counterfeit that's the problem because it erodes their profits. For the
people it's the fact that there's substandard medicines in the market
because it undermines their health. It goes without saying that this is also
the PHM's position.

This is not just a semantic discussion because the answer to substandard
medicines is *not* the enforcement of anti-counterfeit measures. This is
explained very well in an excellent recent Oxfam International report, "Eye
on the ball" http://www.oxfam.org/en/policy/eye-ball . This report explains
the issues Garance is referring to.

The pharma industry is obscuring the issue and trying to sow confusion about
the definition of 'counterfeit'. Therefore it's useful to take note of the
definitions of substandard medicines, falsified medicines and counterfeit as
they are used by Oxfam (and the broader genuine NGO community):

 *Substandard medicines*

 Substandard medicines are medicines that do not meet quality standards or
scientific specifications for the product as defined under World Health
Organization guidelines. They may contain the wrong type or concentration of
ingredient, or they may have deteriorated during distribution in the supply
chain and thus become ineffective and dangerous.

 *Falsified medicines*

 Falsified medicines are medicines for which the identity, source or history
of the product is misrepresented. Such products may be falsified, or fake,
in terms of composition or ingredients, or they may be falsely labeled,
meaning that the information provided about the product is inaccurate.

 *Counterfeit medicines*

 Counterfeit medicines are products that involve criminal trademark
infringement. Only a subset of substandard and falsified medicines in
developing-country markets is linked to criminal trademark infringement
(counterfeiting). Therefore, new anti-counterfeit measures will do little to
address the broader public health problem of substandard drugs.


Let's make a crime of deliberately commercializing substandard medicines.
Shouldn't we also make a crime of monopoly pricing by the pharma TNCs? of
preventing the distribution of scientific information on life-saving drugs
through intellectual property rights? of pressuring low-income countries
into accepting the stringent IPR enforcement provisions of free trade
agreements?
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