Data and information on the market in counterfeit drugs. Includes statistics and losses due to fake drugs around the world. Additional resources for other counterfeit goods.
According to company executives in India, incorporating anti-counterfeiting technology and safeguards into the production of drugs creates an additional 8 to 10 percent increase in the final cost of the medicine.
In India, up to 20 percent of all drugs sold are believed to be counterfeit.
According to a report by the International Policy Network based in Washington, DC, up to 700,000 people die each year due to counterfeit malaria and tuberculosis drugs. In some developing countries, up to 30 percent of all medicines being dispersed are fakes, according to the World Health Organization. Most of the counterfeit drugs in circulation… Continue reading Annual Deaths from Counterfeit Drugs
In 2011, Customs officials in the European Union seized 115 million counterfeit items. The fake goods were worth $1.57 Billion (1.3 Billion Euros).73 percent of the counterfeit goods came from China. The most seized item was counterfeit drugs, which accounted 24 percent of the total.
A scientific study conducted by the National Institute of Health in the United States found that up to one-third of all malaria drugs taken around the world is counterfeit. The fake drugs and other poor-quality drugs are causing resistance to malaria and failure of treatment.
The head of the Liberia Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Authority stated that up to 60 percent of the drugs that are on the market in Liberia are counterfeit. The fake drugs enter the country from Guinea on the back of trucks that are not inspected at the border. Many Liberians purchase their medicines from street vendors.
The World Health Organization estimates that between 30 to 40 percent of all drugs and medicine in Pakistan is counterfeit. According to an official with a pharmaceutical organization, over 100 patients died at a single hospital due to taking counterfeit heart medications.
Between 2005 and 2010, the Government of Indonesia lost $4.76 Billion (43.2 Trillion Indonesian Rupiah) in tax revenue due to counterfeit drugs.
The President and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America stated that the average jail sentence in the for someone selling counterfeit drugs in the United States is 3 years.
The World Health Organization estimates that around 10 percent of all drugs around the world are counterfeit. In Less Developing countries, the percentage of counterfeit drugs in circulation could be as high as 33 percent, while in Develop countries the rate of fake drugs is less than 1 percent.
In 2011, the percentage of counterfeit drugs and medicine in Cambodia was reported to be 0.18 percent, down from the 0.5 percent rate in 2010.
