Bloomberg news reported yesterday that fake antibiotics are among the world’s most common fake medicines, and that this is feeding into the prevalence of global antimicrobial drug resistance.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), conducting a surveillance program on fake antibiotics in 80 countries around the world, drug resistance could result in everyday infections becoming “superbugs”.
Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a priority of the WHO, and the result of many factors, including incorrect usage of medicines and substandard medicines reducing the potency of antibacterial drugs. The addition of a growing prevalence of fake medicines with the incorrect dosage of active ingredients only adds to this growing threat.
According to Michael Deats, head of the WHO’s drug safety and vigilance team:
“Because the demand is so high for antibiotics, it’s not unusual to see those who falsify these products concentrate on them.”
“Generic-drug makers, just like research-based manufacturers, get just as concerned about their drugs becoming falsified. They can be the target just as much as anybody else.”
Read the full Bloomberg article by Makiko Kitamura here.
