Counterfeit drugs on the increase in Sub-Saharan Africa, industry meeting hears

Counterfeit drugs in Sub-Saharan Africa are a significant problem, which ranges between 15% and 25% of all medicines, Mazi Sam Ohuanbuwa, president of the West African Pharmaceuticals Manufacturers Association, told a recent meeting reported by All Africa.

The West Africa pharmaceutical industry consists of manufacturers and importers, with imports of finished drug products accounting for over 60% of the sector. The region's pharmaceutical market is growing at an annual rate of 5% to 7%, according to IMS Health figures

Speaking at the first West African Forum on Access to Quality Medicines, which took place in Accra, Ghana, Mr Ohuanbuwa said the incidents of drug counterfeiting come on the back of several studies which have found frightening levels of substandard medication in the national drug supply chain in Nigeria and in Ghana.

Mr Ohuanbuwa said the situation is intolerable for patients and consumers of health products and should be unacceptable to regulators, policy makers and concerned civil society actors, adding that it threatens the growth of pharmaceutical industries. "The proliferation of counterfeit medicines must clearly be stopped," he warned.

Drug counterfeiting in Sub-Saharan Africa is believed to occur in several ways some of which include black marketing, mislabeling, fraudulent packaging, contents tampering, unlicensed repackaging, unauthorized parallel trading and the sale of dummies masquerading as drugs.

Alex Dodoo, president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, added that there was a mass withdrawal of widely-prescribed anti-malaria drugs from several pharmacies and licensed shops in Kumasi a few months ago. This, he said, was enough evidence that drug counterfeiting is real in the country and that Ghana cannot remain complacent about the health and safety of its citizens. However, he noted that it was not all substandard medicines that came from counterfeit sources but that poor handling of legitimate medicines could also corrupt them.