Fake Drugs Can Kill

Millions of patients worldwide are swallowing pills that are either substandard or fake and this can kill them.

This warning comes from the World Health Organization (WHO) that recently called for an immediate global action against the growing epidemic of fake and substandard medicines that ...Millions of patients worldwide are swallowing pills that are either substandard or fake and this can kill them.

This warning comes from the World Health Organization (WHO) that recently called for an immediate global action against the growing epidemic of fake and substandard medicines that are flooding the market, silently killing millions of unwary consumers in the process.

WHO said this problem is present in all countries, especially those with weak drug regulation control and enforcement. In the United States alone, the Center for Medicines in the Public Interest projects counterfeit drug sales will reach $75 billion in 2010, a 92 percent increase from 2005.

The problem with fake generic drugs is that they often fall short of their brand name counterparts since they lack the proper clinical studies showing their safety and efficacy. In the past, generic products were not required by law to be tested for bioequivalence and therapeutic equivalence, posing a threat to consumers. In the rush to save money, patients often purchased these products without considering whether they worked or not.

“We see this happen often because there are many generic drugs in the market and we’ve heard patients complain that they aren’t benefiting from one generic drug to another,” according to Dr. Ricardo Fernando, a diabetologist and president of the Institute for Studies on Diabetes Foundation.

To determine its bioequivalence, a generic drug is tested for its bioavailability or the rate and extent of the drug that reaches the general circulation from an administered dosage form. Ideally, generic drugs should be bioequivalent and therapeutically equivalent to the branded products before they can be substituted for the latter.

Experts say that while generic drugs may be pharmaceutically equivalent, they aren’t necessarily bioequivalent to brand name or innovator drugs since this can be affected by numerous factors like manufacturing techniques, the raw materials and other ingredients used, patient variations in absorption power, the pH (or acidity) of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, the user’s age, sex, weight, disease status, and interactions with other substances including drugs and food.

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