A look inside Latin America's war on counterfeit medicines

Around one in 10 medical products in circulation in low- and middle-income countries is substandard or counterfeit, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), reports The Pharma Letter’s Latin American correspondent.

The Institute of Research Against Counterfeit Medicines (IRACM) found that Latin America appears in second place, surpassed only by Asia, as the region that produces and markets the most counterfeit medicines.

Some countries have taken important steps to address the situation, and progress has been made in multisectoral and cross-border work, with a view to curbing a serious problem that puts people’s health at serious risk and badly impacts the economies of the worst-affected nations.