Counterfeit Medicine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Counterfeit Medicine - Essay Example Because of this demand pharmaceutical companies now face the problem of counterfeit medicine (Cockburn, p. 302). The World Health Organization and the US FDA estimates that ten percent (10%) of the medicines and drugs sold in the United States are counterfeit drugs. These drugs are known to be manufactured overseas, particularly in Asia or Africa where it is reported that the real drugs are being sold along side of the counterfeit ones. These counterfeit medicines when taken in may have serious health consequences. A lot of counterfeit medicines sold today are cheaper or almost the same price as that of the real medicine. This also makes them a competitor for legal pharmaceuticals. One of the serious health implications for ingesting these counterfeit drugs are the possible side effects not reported or present in real medicine. Counterfeit medicines are also known to contain little or a different drug ingredient that has not passed FDA approval (US FDA, para.3). The economic repercussion of having these fake drugs available is that legal pharmaceuticals are losing money. Fake drugs may look and have the same packaging, it is sometimes impossible for the average consumer to know which one is fake or counterfeit. Consumers or patients who get a hold of counterfeit medicine also lose money because they do not get the product that they have paid for, and the medicinal benefit of the drug. Add to that the possibility of getting hospitalized because of the adverse effects of the counterfeit drugs, or worse death (Hope, para. 2). The problem of counterfeit medicine has stemmed from the known income earnings of pharmaceutical companies and commercialism. Companies that are trying to outsell each other may try to get sourcing of their raw materials from third world countries and sometimes these medicines contain little or weak proportions of an active ingredient or worse a different