Counterfeit medicines

The occurrence of counterfeit medicines is a constantly growing problem which poses a serious threat to public health in the global. They distinguish from other products because they can harm patients and have fatal consequences. World Health Organization (WHO) assesses this as a serious problem and it take an active part in activities and steps in combating this phenomenon. WHO defines counterfeit medicines as: “deliberately and fraudulently mislabeled with respect to identity and/or source “. WHO estimated that counterfeit drugs account for more than 10% of the global medicines market. Recently those numbers have been updated, and now WHO states that is preferable not to refer to one number for the entire world, but rather to see the specific circumstances in the different parts of the world.Countefeit medicines have been perceived mainly as a problem for developing countries, but through the recent years counterfeit drugs have been found in the developed countries as well. According the data, the problem of counterfeit drugs is known to involve both developed and developing countries. But generally, problem of counterfeit medicines is much more serious in countries with lack legislation, regulatory gaps, weak enforcement and penal sanction. In this paper is presented an overview on the problem of counterfeit medicines, were identifying the factors that are contributing on this problem, were specify types of counterfeit medicine and given overview of activities undertaken to combat this worldwide problem.