The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that as much as $35 billion in counterfeit drugs, or 10% of all prescription drugs sold globally are fakes.An estimated 25% of the drugs consumed in developing countries are thought to be counterfeit and in some countries, this figure may be as high as 50%. [1]

A report released by the U.S. Centre for Medicines in the Public Interest, projects counterfeit drug sales to reach $75 billion in 2010, which will account for a 92% increase from 2005 levels. This lucrative trade attracts criminal networks, hinders the profits needed by pharmaceutical companies to research and develop new drugs, and poses serious immediate threats to consumers. [2]

According to the WHO, types of counterfeit medicines can be grouped into six categories:

1. Products without active ingredients, 32.1%;
2. Products with incorrect quantities of active ingredients, 20.2%;
3. Products with wrong ingredients, 21.4%,
4. Products with correct quantities of active ingredients but with fake packaging, 15.6%;
5. Copies of an original product, 1%; and
6. Products with high levels of impurities and contaminants, 8.5%. [3]

Examples...

In China, the state-controlled Shenzhen Evening News reported that 192,000 people died in 2001 as a result of fake drugs. The same year, Chinese authorities raided and closed 1,300 counterfeit drug factories and opened up investigations on 480,000 cases worth $57 million. [4]

In Haiti, Nigeria, Bangladesh, India, and Argentina, more than 500 patients, predominantly children, are known to have died from the consumption of fake paracetamol syrup. [5]

Approximately one-third to one-half of artesunate tablets, the life-saving anti-malarial drug, recently bought in Southeast Asia were fakes and contained no active ingredient.[6]

During the 1995 meningitis epidemic in Niger, the authorities received a donation of 88,000 Pasteur Merieux and SmithKline Beecham vaccines from Nigeria. The drugs, which were found to contain no active ingredient, were administered to approximately 60,000 people.[7]

1 million counterfeit birth control pills had been distributed to unsuspecting women in the 1980's resulting in unwanted pregnancies and irregular bleeding. [8]