Sunday, July 04, 2010 03:48:12 PM

Ghanaian CSOs join forces against counterfeit drugs

Health Access Network and mPedigree Network, an ally of IMANI Ghana, is pleased to announce a new partnership to highlight consumer and patient concerns in the ongoing efforts to improve upon the quality of medicines sold in Ghana. The goal is to ensure that a patient-centred regulatory and policymaking approach becomes the dominant way of addressing access and quality issues in Ghana as far as medicines and healthcare are concerned.

The mass withdrawal of widely-prescribed antimalarial, coartem, from several pharmacies and licensed chemical shops in Kumasi and elsewhere a few months ago is the latest in a disturbing succession of similar incidents which suggests that Ghana cannot remain complacent about the health and safety of its citizens.

This is especially so in the context of statistics from several reputable bodies which put the counterfeit prevalence rate between 15% and 25% of all medicines sold in sub-Saharan Africa.

These counterfeit incidents come on the back of several studies which have found frightening levels of substandard medication in the national drug supply chain even in Ghana. While it is true that not all substandard medicines come from counterfeit sources, and that poor handling of legitimate medicines can corrupt them, substandard medicines are just as dangerous to consumers and patients.

As recently as 2008, Ofori Kwakye, Asantewaa and Gaye, Researchers at KNUST, found out that 82% of sampled artesunate sold in pharmacies in Kumasi were substandard according to European guidelines.

This situation is intolerable for patients and consumers of health products; and should be unacceptable to regulators, policymakers, and concerned civil society actors.

It threatens the growth of pharmaceutical industry and commerce in this country, undercutting any possibility of Ghana attaining security in the supply of quality medicines both through trade and local production. The proliferation of counterfeit medicines must clearly be stopped.

The prevalence of fake and counterfeit medicines occurs in the form of black marketing, mislabeling, and fraudulent packaging, in some instances. But it is increasingly also being observed in incidents of duplication and imitation, contents tampering, unlicensed repackaging, unauthorized parallel trading, or the sale of dummies masquerading as drugs.

"In all these situations," the consequences are largely the same and fatal to Ghana's public health system. We note the growing difficulties in the national management of the malaria burden due to the growing inefficacy of some first-line treatments, a trend that is significantly attributable to the expanding presence of counterfeit anti-malarial medicines on the market.

It is important that stakeholders strive to contribute to the effort of Ghana's Ministry of Health, especially the Food & Drugs Board, to contain the crisis of counterfeit medicines, and by so doing to promote the healthy business of pharmaceutical trade and production in Ghana. Health Access Network and the mPedigree Network are delighted to announce in this light that their new partnership will serve to bridge the gap between public and private initiatives in this direction.

Health Access Network and mPedigree Network will vigorously champion the coordination of various ongoing anti-counterfeiting efforts in order to ensure a harmonized approach towards dealing with the problem at all levels of the health ecosystem.

They shall support the statutory authorities in their mandate to police existing standards, while contributing to the equally critical task of formulating emerging standards that are responsive to new trends in pharmaceutical quality assurance. They shall do this by bringing patient rights and consumer rights perspectives into the heart of the regulatory and policymaking process.

Health Access Network is a network of health professionals and consumer health advocates committed to using innovative ways through collaboration with wide range of stakeholders including government, non government and civil society organisations to promote access to essential medicines for the people of Ghana.

MPedigree, a partner of IMANI Center for Policy & Education, combines insights into technology, policy matters, and social enterprise to formulate its unique approach to fighting counterfeiting.

This is a model based on the principle that industry and regulatory authority should interface continuously rather than on a per-transaction basis, and that the consumer should, as far as possible, be a participant in this process, and not an incidental beneficiary.

In 2008, the Network piloted a mobile phone based mechanism that enables consumers and manufacturers to interact at the point of product purchase, thus helping stem counterfeiting.

Charles Allotey, Executive Director of Health Access Network said, "Having always supported the emergence of a strong and responsive quality framework for pharmaceuticals in Ghana, we feel the time has now come to take the advocacy effort around these and related issues to the next level.

While we acknowledge the good work being done by regulators and policymakers, we feel more can be done, particularly by ensuring that patients' voices and needs are better heard and appreciated".

Bright Simons, Coordinator of the mPedigree Network, advocated the ramping up of the initiative in order to demonstrate early results for stakeholders and the general consuming public: "the task ahead is enormous, and can only be sustained through the careful exploration of all kinds of partnerships amongst stakeholders involved in varied efforts at different levels. No one stakeholder can manage all the complexities of the access and quality situation in healthcare delivery in Ghana".


Source: Public Agenda

IFPMA issues 10 principles on counterfeit drugs

The principles define counterfeit drugs, describe the threats they pose, suggest ways to prevent fake drugs from reaching patients, and urge support for the World Health Organization (WHO) and its International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT).

?Counterfeit medicines are a crime, and our industry is serious about tackling this problem head on.

This is not about commercial interest; this is about protecting patients,? said Mr. Haruo Naito, President of IFPMA and President and CEO of Eisai Pharmaceuticals, a Tokyo-based bio-pharmaceutical research company. ?We stand ready to be an active partner in the WHO-led efforts, including IMPACT.?

Data gathered by the industry?s Pharmaceutical Security Institute (PSI) shows that counterfeiting is on the rise globally. The WHO has estimated that on average more than 30% of medicines sold in Africa are counterfeit, with some countries such as Nigeria experiencing a 70% counterfeit rate.

Of particular concern has been the increase in counterfeit anti-infectives.

In 2009, incidents involving counterfeit anti-infective increased by almost 50% over the previous year. Anti-infectives, which include anti-malarials, are the therapeutic category most affected by counterfeiting incidents in Africa .

Of the nearly one million deaths from malaria each year, the WHO estimates that 200,000 are the result of fake anti-malarial medications.

Apart from wishing to publicize the issue, IFPMA also used the principles to counter criticisms from large generic drug manufacturing countries like Brazil and India that it was using the issue to cast doubt on the efficacy and safety of generics.

The principles assert that counterfeiting has nothing to do with patents or vice versa. Principle 2 states that counterfeit drugs threaten the full spectrum of legitimate medicines, including patented medicines, generic medicines or over-the-counter medicines.

Source: Public Agenda

Nigeria jails top political aide

Olusegun Obasanjo stood down as president in 2006 A top Nigerian politician from the ruling party has been sentenced to two-and-half years for corruption. Olabode George was accused of inflating contracts and abusing public funds worth $500m (£305m) when he ran the Nigerian ports authority. The BBC's Caroline Duffield in Lagos says George was seen as one of the untouchables among the Nigerian elite.   Lawyers for George, a close ally of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, told the BBC he will appeal.   Laughing and joking   Our correspondent says Nigerians are questioning whether the conviction and sentencing of George can be true.   He and five colleagues accused with him entered court before their conviction laughing and joking, she says.   But the smiles faded and the court erupted into disorder as they were sentenced.   George - the former national chairman of the People's Democratic Party - was found guilty on 35 counts of 68 separate offences, all of them relating to abuse of public funds.   The five others, who worked with him in the Nigerian Ports Authority, were also found guilty on numerous charges.   The charges include conspiracy, disobedience of lawful orders, inflation of contracts and an offence known as "contract splitting".   Public officials are forbidden from awarding contracts of more than a 130,000 naira without approval.   Splitting the contract into parts, to award a far larger sum of money, is breaking the law.   All six argued their innocence during the trial. Our reporter says the amount of money involved is not particularly big by Nigeria's standards, but what surprises people is that George has been convicted at all.   The ruling from the judge, Justice Oyewole, will send a chill to corrupt officials in high places, she says.      Source: BBC