Fight the Fakes (FTF) Alliance (commonly referred to as ‘Fight the Fakes’) is a multi-stakeholder non-profit association that aims to raise awareness and influence change about the proliferation of substandard and falsified medicines. Substandard and falsified medicines not only put patients’ lives at risk but undermine trust in healthcare systems and modern medicine, and hamper crucial progress made so far by countries towards universal health coverage.  

Although this is a global issue, the burden is still disproportionately higher in low- and middle-income countries where 1 in 10 medicines are thought to be either substandard or falsified. Nearly 170,000 children die annually of falsified pneumonia medicines and substandard and falsified antimalarials may cause as many as 116,000 deaths from malaria annually in sub-Saharan Africa. The limited data available on this issue means the known figures almost certainly represent just a fraction of the true burden of falsified medicines around the globe.

Seven years since its first activities as a grass root advocacy campaign, the new formal governance structure will allow the FTF Alliance to take the fight against substandard and falsified medicines to the next level. With over 20 members representing health care professionals, manufacturers, wholesalers, researchers and patients, the Alliance is uniquely positioned to scale up action to prevent falsified medicines from endangering people’s health and well-being. Alliance partners endorse our activities and share the belief that coordination among all relevant stakeholders involved in the manufacturing and distribution of medicines is vital to tackle this global health threat.

Falsified and substandard medicines pose a grave danger to patient safety and health systems and hinder efforts towards achieving universal health coverage. Fight the Fakes gives a voice to those who have been personally impacted and shares the stories of those working to put a stop to this threat to public health.