Fighting counterfeit medicines

Counterfeit medicines are, first and foremost, a crime against patients.

- MEDICINE CABINET TEODORO B. PADILLA

By pretending to be genuine approved treatments when they are not, fake medicines put people at risk of treatment failure, complications, disability, and even death. They also threaten the hard-won trust that underpins our health system.

Counterfeits are medical products that deliberately misrepresent their identity, composition, or source. They can appear as patented or generic prescription medicines, as well as over-the-counter products, and they exist across all therapeutic areas ranging from antibiotics and pain relievers to medicines for chronic conditions. Some counterfeits have no active ingredient at all; others contain the wrong ingredient, the wrong dose, or dangerous contaminants.

It helps to distinguish substandard from falsified products. Substandard medical products are approved and legally manufactured but fail to meet quality standards and specifications often due to poor manufacturing practices or inadequate quality control. They pose real health risks but are not the same as counterfeits. Falsified products, by contrast, are intentionally deceptive. They lie about what they are and where they come from. All counterfeits are, by nature, illegal and unsafe.

WHY THESE MATTER TO EVERYONE

The harms of substandard and falsified products are wide-ranging. Patients may not get better because the medicine contains the wrong ingredient or dose. Some products can cause direct harm if they include contaminants or toxic substances. Indirectly, poor-quality or fake antimicrobial products fuel antimicrobial resistance (AMR), making infections harder, and sometimes impossible, to treat. Beyond individual harm, these products undermine the effectiveness of health systems and erode public confidence in health professionals, regulators, and legitimate manufacturers and distributors.