RIYADH, 22 August 2004 — Saudi Arabia’s pharmaceutical market is being targeted by makers of fake products, mainly from Lebanon, according to industry sources.
“These fake products are harming the industry. We are, therefore, planning to undertake a market survey of such products to evaluate the dimensions of the problem,” Dr. Ahmed El-Hakim, health policy and external affairs director for Pfizer’s Middle East Region, told Arab News.
He said pharmaceutical counterfeiting has reached higher levels in the Middle East and could even place lives at risk in the region.
El-Hakim said that in the past drug counterfeiting received relatively little attention because it was viewed as a problem affecting mainly the Indian and Chinese markets. The problem has now spread around the world.
Drug counterfeiting ranges from the illegal use of copyrighted commercial brands to manufacturing fake drugs. The practice has spread in recent months, partly because of increased demand for products like male potency medication.
“The health consequences of counterfeit medicines, many produced in unsanitary conditions with substandard or dangerous chemical components, are real and often life threatening. They can also lead to drug resistance and can cause loss of trust between patients, doctors, pharmacists and health care workers,” he said.
The Pfizer executive congratulated the authorities in both the Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates on the moves they have made to combat the problem, and have urged the general public to be more aware of the dangers of fake drugs.
The Kingdom’s pharmaceutical market is growing at an annual rate of 3.5 percent and accounts for 65 percent of the GCC market.
Speedy action by the Ministry of Health has curbed the proliferation of fake drugs in the Saudi market.
“The ministry has set up a special cell to deal with the problem of fake drugs. Whenever it comes across cases of counterfeit products being sold in the market, it takes punitive measures,” said Musharraf Ali Khurshid, chief pharmacist of Abdulrahman Al-Mishary Hospital.
“However, much depends on the cooperation of the public. It is their duty to inform the authorities whenever they find such fake products in the market,” he added.
According to informed sources, products being counterfeited include impotency drugs such as Viagra, Royal Jelly, Ginseng and over-the-counter vitamins tablets, energy boosters and painkillers. Herbal medicine is also being tampered with.
Often the fake drugs contain nothing more than baking soda or talcum powder, though sometimes they contain more sinister ingredients such as antifreeze. There have even been cases of vials of general anesthetic being filled with distilled water or alcohol, Dr. El-Hakim said.
He pointed out that the distribution of unsafe pharmaceutical products around the world are increasing, as there have been many reports involving patients who have unwittingly received and taken counterfeit medicines. Packaging is often slick and convincing as counterfeiters copy bar codes, blister packs and even holograms.
Various factors have been cited for the surge in counterfeiting. These include the growing involvement in the drug supply chain by under-regulated wholesalers and packagers, the proliferation of Internet pharmacies, and the movement of imported medicines..
