Faking Pharmaceuticals

Synopsis

Counterfeiting pharmaceuticals can be a highly lucrative business as a fraudulent manufacturer avoids the costs of product development, commercialisation and rigor of regulatory conformance. At best, such criminal activity robs the legitimate pharmaceutical of hard earned revenue. Such activity is, however, highly dangerous as products with no proven efficacy or therapeutic effect, which may or may not contain an active may be supplied to vulnerable patients. Without regulatory oversight, fake pharmaceutical products may comprise toxic and/or degraded actives, excipients and auxiliaries as well as contaminants. According to the WHO, falsified medicines have caused fatalities, life changing disabilities, undermined vaccination programs, and contributed to antimicrobial resistance. If not curtailed counterfeiting will undermine confidence in the healthcare industry as a whole.

This presentation will highlight the key collaboration required between the pharmaceutical manufacturer and an expert pharmaceutical forensic partner to investigate these fraudulent products whilst demonstrating not only how counterfeited products can be identified but also how to potentially pinpoint their source or develop anti-counterfeiting measures.