Thursday 15th May 2014
Combating counterfeit medicines: a major and growing challenge to patient safety. Going global
Royal Society of Chemistry, London
Counterfeit medicines - or more appropriately - fake medicines pose great dangers to society. Regrettably, fake medicines are not a new phenomenon. What is new, however, is the recent global escalation of both counterfeit prescriptions and consumer healthcare products.
In today’s environment, commercial competition, exacerbated by patent expiry has greatly increased the “space and scale” in which counterfeiters can operate across the range of APIs and drug products, and this is occurring on a massive global scale.
Furthermore, the internet is providing a very effective means of bypassing the security of delivery that has previously been achieved through the conventional supply chain.
As a direct result the main defences of society and the patient against fake medicines – which has been based on vigilance and a reactive forensic approach - is now proving to be “far too little too late.”
This realisation has motivated a significantly increased interest by regulators and industry to address these problems far more aggressively.
This symposium provides a current and strategic overview of how industry and regulatory authorities in Europe and the US are addressing the rapidly growing counterfeiting challenge.
Members of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society can register at the Members Rate.
Registration at 9.30 a.m.; symposium starts at 10.00 a.m.