How To Identify Fake Drugs By Janet Martin At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Counterfeit or fake drugs are a $32 billion-a-year industry, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In the United States alone, the Pharmaceutical Security Institute, a non-profit public health group, estimates that $200 million in prescriptions in 2003 were counterfeit or tainted ¨C a seven-fold increase over the previous year.

"It's significant. The estimates are that between 8 and 10 percent of all drugs around the world are fake or tainted," said Bryan Liang, executive director of the Institute of Health Law Studies at California Western School of Law and co-director of the San Diego Center for Patient Safety. "We write between 2 and 3 billion prescriptions here in the United States each year, so that's 200 to 300 million prescriptions that could be affected."

The sad part is that most consumers don¡¯t know that they¡¯re taking fake or substandard drugs and suffer in the process. When patients take look-alike products that contain inactive ingredients, incorrect ingredients, and improper or contaminated dosages, they¡¯re likely to experience adverse reactions that could be fatal.

¡°A number of cases have been documented where counterfeit drugs have caused tragedies in developing countries. In Haiti, for example, 30 children died after ingesting counterfeit anti-fever medications that contained diethylene glycol, an industrial solvent found in anti-freeze. In Nigeria 109 children died after taking a counterfeit medicine sold as medicinal syrup that contained the same solvent. The use of counterfeit medications on a broader scale occurred during the meningitis epidemic in Niger in 1995. According to estimates, approximately 60,000 persons were inoculated with false vaccines,¡± revealed Alan Spies and Virgil Van Dusen in an article in the US Pharmacist.

To help consumers identify counterfeit drugs, here are some tips from the Partnership for Safe Medicines, a national coalition of patient, physician, industry and research groups:

¡ñ Request manufacturer samples of your branded medications from your physician so you can compare the appearance, taste, texture, reaction and packaging later when filling the prescription.

¡ñ Compare drugs and their containers to those found at trusted pharmacies. If they look even a little bit different, tell your pharmacist or physician.

¡ñ Note each drug's "taste and feel" in a drug diary. Does it go down smooth? Do you get stomach rumblings? Question any unusual reaction.

¡ñ Is your condition improving over the course of the treatment? If not, contact your physician. Fake drugs can contain no active ingredient, not enough or too much, so one result is patients don't improve -- or get worse.

¡ñ If you suspect or confirm that your medicine is fake, write down where and when you bought it, how long you've been taking it and anything else about it. Don't throw the drug out -- law enforcement and drug regulation officials will want the evidence. Remove it from your medicine cabinet, mark the packaging with a red pen and tape the container closed so nobody else takes it.

If you¡¯re purchasing drugs to fight obesity, be warned that this is a big market for fake drugs. To protect yourself, buy only from reputable dealers or manufacturers.

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