Are your medicines working? If they’re not, they probably fake.
The Food and Drug Administration has expressed alarm over the proliferation of fake medicines in the market.
FDA -7 Officer Irish Samar told a Kapihan sa PIA forum last week that the most common counterfeit drugs are anti-hypertensive and antibiotics, lifestyle medicines like slimming products and sometimes products that fix erectile dysfunction, and other leading brands in the market.
Counterfeiting affects even branded medicines, Samar said.
Alarmed by these findings, the FDA has intensified its campaign against counterfeit medicines by organizing fora attended by representatives of different drug stores in the city and concerned government agencies.
Lawyer Vanessa Gana Legasto of FDA’s Legal Services and Support Center said fake drugs are dangerous in the sense that people cannot expect the quality and purity of these products because it didn’t pass the standards of FDA.
“It doesn’t only pose a threat or danger but it could kill. We should not allow the public to be unaware of counterfeit drugs,” She added.
Republic Act 8203 or the special law on counterfeit drugs enacted in 1996 defines counterfeit drug as a medicinal product which has a wrong ingredient, without active ingredients, correct ingredients but not in the amount as provided, and sufficient quantity of active ingredients which may lead to reduction of drug safety, efficacy, quality, strength, or purity.
In addition to this, a medicine can also be considered counterfeit if it bears without authorization the trademark, trade name or other identification mark.
Samar said an item could be a suspected counterfeit drug when it is covered by an inferior packaging material, if there is no generic name, and if the brand name is bigger than the generic name of the medicine.
Furthermore, consumers should also take note of the color of the tablet, capsules, or liquid in vials. If they are not the same with the previously used medicine or if it is a bit faded it could be sign that the drug is counterfeit.
Atty. Legasto also advised the public to regularly check the FDA website for advisories on fake medicines noting that there are also some indications or measures posted in their website which can help determine if a medicine is fake as opposed to genuine. This can be the color or the content of a certain drug.
Moreover, the agency also urged the public to buy medicines only from FDA licensed establishments and not from peddlers and also from websites.
One thing that could help guide them is to buy medicines from legal establishments or those licensed by FDA. They can be assured that the medicines sold there are genuine,” Legasto stressed.
Legasto frowned on the practice of buying medicine online, as medicine should only be dispensed in a licensed establishment of FDA. “Let’s not patronize those being sold online. The law says products should only be dispensed in a licensed establishment of FDA and it is online and if it is an establishment without a pharmacy, we should know that the business establishment is conducting their business which is not in compliance with FDA rules,” she said.
R.A. 8203 penalizes those who are manufacturing or selling counterfeit drugs with imprisonment with fine. (Roi Lomotan/ PIA7)
