Proliferation of counterfeit medicine market is a great concern to government regulatory agencies, pharmaceutical companies, health care providers and consumers. However, its percentage is continuously increasing not only in poor and developing countries but also in developed ones. Unfortunately, counterfeiting is one of the most underrated issues in the world that contributes largely to morbidity, mortality and drug intoxication of people of ages, religions and cultures.
One of the reasons why there is the domination of counterfeit medicines is the lack of attention given by the rightful authorities. Even with the strict policies, many national governments are focused on the smuggling of illegal drugs such as opium and heroin in their countries that the seemingly “legit” pharmaceutical drugs pass their investigation. Cities known for strict implementation of policies against smuggled drugs includes Jakarta, Indonesia, Singapore, Victoria, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, yet these countries are also among the countries which have the highest number of counterfeit cases.
Only a few and only those dedicated in this special case give concern for the worsening number of counterfeit medicines victims in the world.
Concerned NGOs have developed falsified medicine analysis and has reported special cases vital in determining the total scale of the problem. Their falsified medicine analysis expertise is ideally positioned to address the highly technical issues involved in investigating the increasingly sophisticated falsified medicines or counterfeit medicines being discovered in legitimate supply chains. As a key tool in our pharmaceutical supply chain surveillance for counterfeit medicines services, our laboratory network employ a wide scope of investigative analytical technology such as mass spectrometry (MS), infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy, RAMAN spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS), liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and more, to explore and assist in the identification of fake medicines.
With the assistance of advanced research labs funded by concerned pharmaceutical companies and individuals, these systems are already underway in determining the impact of counterfeit medicines in a region by region scale. Some of these methods may take a lot of time to produce results but with proper effort and support, falsified medicine analysis, which seems too complicated in the early times, can be more comprehensive.