health

Fake drug issue examined

Health officials are discussing solutions to the production and traffic of phony prescription drugs.

Officials say around 10 percent of pharmaceutical drugs are vulnerable to counterfeiting.

LA PRENSA

drug fraud: Regional authorities are meeting this week in Panama to discuss the growing problem of counterfeit prescription drug trafficking. 1069696

The growing problem of counterfeiting pharmaceutical drugs has prompted health officials to organize a workshop aimed at brainstorming techniques for combating the illegal manufacture of phony and potentially harmful drugs.

Officials from the Ministerio de Salud (Minsa) and the Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPS) are hosting the event, which opened yesterday.

Some 10 percent of pharmaceutical drugs developed worldwide are susceptible to counterfeiting, according to OPS estimates.

Ángel Valencia, OPS representative for Panama, said that the drugs most vulnerable to falsification are those that do not require sophisticated technology to manufacture. Among the drugs recently targeted by drug counterfeiters include Viagra and Tamiflu, he said.

Eric Conte, director of the Nacional de Farmacia y Drogas del Minsa, said that in Panama there have been two cases of very specific counterfeit medicines that ended up on the pharmacy shelf: Panadol Multisíntomas, a common painkiller, and Viagra.

Public prosecutor Rodrigo Esquivel, who specializes in crimes of intellectual property, explained that drug counterfeiters operate with a structure similar to that of illegal drug traffickers. For instance, they often hid behind limited liability companies, known as “sociedades anónimas,” and rely on mules to transport drugs in luggage.

Esquivel said that a foreign national with forged documents was recently caught selling fake drugs over the Internet to consumers in Europe and the United States via Panama. The drugs came from South America, China and India, he said.

Minsa’s workshop, attended by representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Peru, was organized to compile other countries’ experiences concerning anti-counterfeiting campaigns. In exchange, Panamanian health officials are offering ideas for building a better alliance for combating the crime.

Conte, of Minsa, said that a joint government-judicial “task force” will be formed at the end of the workshop with the purpose of coordinating a more effective system of preventive measures nationwide.