Fight the fakes

The hospital pharmacy is out of stock, the pharmacy in town is charging a month’s salary but you heard that guy, with a small shop around the corner where you catch the minibus, has he drug and it is very cheap! Fake drugs are either ineffective or harmful – either of which can kill you. You may believe that you are receiving genuine treatment, but instead are getting potentially dangerous products that could increase resistance to real treatments and cause further illness, disability or even death.

Counterfeit (or fake) medicines are manufactured using incorrect or harmful ingredients. These medicines are then packaged and labelled to look like real brand-name and generic drugs. Don’t get fake drugs confused with generic drugs. Generic drugs are effective treatment; they simply lack the marketing and branding and are low cost. For example, Panadol is the brand name, the chemical that makes it effective is paracetamol. A generic brand might be called Panadin, it will be cheaper often with less glamorous packaging but will also contain paracetamol. Whilst on the one hand a fake drug will be called either Panadol or Panadin but wont contain paracetamol.

Fight the Fakes (fightthefakes.org) was launched in November 2013 as a global campaign that aims to raise awareness about the dangers of fake medicines. The campaign gives a voice to those who have been personally impacted and shares the stories of those working to put a stop to this threat to public health. A number of stories appear on the site for example Victoria in Ghana who was suffering with malaria deteriorated while taking a fake medicine or a man in Singapore who died after taking fake drugs for sexual pleasure.

The only way to know if a drug is counterfeit is through chemical analysis done in a laboratory but none of us have access to or let alone walk around with a chemical testing kit. Here are a few tips to help you spot fake drugs: product labelling that contains misspelled words or looks different from the standard labelling; the finished product is a different shape or colour from the standard product or has an unusual odour; the packaging is missing identifying information such as the lot number or expiration date; the original packaging seals have been opened, damaged, repaired or altered.