Introduction The management of a pharmacy business is very crucial for providing better healthcare to society. All healthcare professionals and business personnel play a key role in overall business management. The role of pharmacists is crucial in managing the overall business landscape and ensuring the availability of quality medicines in society. Pharmacists are involved at various levels in the drug supply chain before the medicines are dispensed to the patients, and therefore play a pivotal role in protecting patients from counterfeit, substandard, spurious, and adulterated (CSSA) drugs. Keeping this in view, the challenges related to CSSA drugs were assessed to improve business management. Methods A web-based cross-sectional survey was conducted by distributing a questionnaire to key personnel in the pharmacy business. The study respondents consisted of business personnel and pharmacists working in the private sector in different domains of pharmacy in Pakistan. Results A total of 166 respondents participated in the study. The majority had been in the pharmacy business or domain for 11.19 ± 10.17 years. The majority acknowledged the presence of CSSA drugs in society, while less than half of the participants had previous exposure to these drugs in the past. About 74.1% participants held wholesalers/distributors responsible for the overall spread of these drugs. More than half of the respondents (55.4%) confessed that they did not get any training on pharmacy law and regulations. Conclusion The loopholes exist in the pharmaceutical supply chain system, which exacerbate the spread of CSSA drugs. There is a need for training and infrastructure development to ensure a secure supply chain and to minimize the prevalence of CSSA drugs.
Usman Rashid Malik (2026) studied this question.