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The government of Finland is stepping up action to prevent counterfeit medicines from entering the country’s drug supply chain. When importing into Finland from outside the European Economic Area (EEA), the amended Finnish Medicines Act requires ingredients intended to be used in medicines to hold a written authority statement stipulating the good manufacturing practice (GMP) of the country of export.  Medicine suppliers are to register with the Finnish Medicines Agency (FIMEA) and people working in Read more…

PharmaCheck, a cutting-edge, inexpensive, portable tool capable of detecting poor quality medicines, has been selected by Scientific American as one of the science magazine’s “World Changing Ideas of 2013 — Ten ways science may jazz up our gadgets, help to solve our most intractable problems and save lives.” In collaboration with U.S. Pharmacopeia’s (USP) Promoting the Quality of Medicines program, researchers from Boston University have developed the device, which has the potential to revolutionize detection Read more…

President Barack Obama has signed into effect the Drug Quality and Security Act to protect the US public from fake and contaminated medicines. This law will make it easier to trace drugs through the US supply chain and contains anti-counterfeiting drug provisions. Pew Charitable Trust reports that the Act has been supported by diverse stakeholders, including public health organisations, the pharmaceutical industry, patient advocates and bi-partisan policy makers. Among them, Fight the Fakes US-based partner, the Read more…

Stakeholders at a seminar organised by the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) and Helpline Trust have called for the establishment of a regulatory authority to combat the country’s problem of fake medicines. Health professionals and policy influences warned that a lack of action against counterfeit medicines was tarnishing the credibility of medical services in Pakistan. Chairman of Helpline Trust, Hamid Maker, stressed that inaction against counterfeit medicine was at the cost of human health and life. Read more…

Inspector General of the Global Fund has appointed Katie Hodson as the new Director of Investigations starting from January 2014. Ms. Hodson has 20 years of experience in conducting and supervising investigations including cases of counterfeiting. To learn more read the Global Fund’s news release here.