Access to low-price generics threatened by technologies due to be used in EU

Producers of generic medicines are raising concerns on the huge cost implications of possible new anti-falsification technologies that will be required as a result of Directive 2011/62/EU on falsified medicines.

The European Generic medicines Association (EGA), whilst fully supportive of the European Union and other international initiatives in their fight against counterfeit and falsified medicines, stresses that the threat to patients comes from falsification of well-known branded products and not low priced generic medicines.

The scope of counterfeiting in medicines is like any other sector (such as clothing or electronics) where criminal activities are driven by price and demand, especially targeting well-known brands, the EGA argues. There are no reports of generic medicines found falsified in the EU legal supply chain. Generic medicines should even be considered as preventing the falsification of medicines as they trigger competition, resulting in lower prices, and fragment the market into multisource volumes, which are unattractive for counterfeiters.