World Health Organization (WHO) current estimates of the worth of counterfeit medicines traded globally now stand at around 73 billion euros, according to a March 2020 background briefing paper on the subject published by one of the world’s largest manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, the German company, Bayer.
The world-renowned pharmaceutical giant is pressing state authorities to “take responsibility to protect consumers and patients” and to “uncover fraud and effectively prosecute counterfeiters. In the coming years, it will be important to establish national and international structures and networks, as well as create suitable legal guidelines. Furthermore, it is necessary to raise awareness in the relevant institutions and authorities, as is already largely the case with customs authorities,” Bayer adds.
While the vulnerability of poor countries to fake drugs has long been widely known, the Bayer briefing paper asserts that the problem now exists on a global scale “reaching countries such as Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain and the USA.” It adds that the continued escalation of counterfeit drugs is attributable to the stepped up activities of illegal internet pharmacies which have increased their own involvement in the trade by around 50%.
