‘Both registered and unregistered medicines will not be allowed in the country for re-export,’ Dr Amin Al Amiri, CEO, Medical Practice and License at the UAE Health Ministry told the newspaper on the sidelines of the two-day regional conference on fighting counterfeit medicines, organized in collaboration with pharmaceutical firm Pfizer.
Nearly one per cent of the fake medicines detected in the European Union comes from the UAE, said Dr Amin Al Amiri, CEO, Medical Practice and License at the UAE Health Ministry.
In 2007, $5.4 million worth of medicines were seized by UAE authorities in the region’s largest such raid.
During the first five months of 2008, Dubai Customs seized and destroyed 293 tonnes of counterfeit medical products, he said, while pointing out the scale of the problem the country was battling.
He said the ministry is in talks with free zones and other relevant authorities to toughen measures for importing of all healthcare and medical goods.
Since January this year, the ministry has banned entry of medical and diagnostic devices into the country without its approval.
“All such devices are also required to be registered with the ministry,” said Dr Al Amiri.
The UAE is also on the verge of ratifying the updated Federal Pharmacy Law that spells out jails terms and huge financial penalties for those involved in such crimes.
“The ministry has prepared a draft federal law in this regard that will include legalities commensurate with the magnitude of the problem,” UAE Minister of Health Dr Hanif Hassan said in a statement.
“The bill will develop and control methods to eliminate or at least to reduce such illegal activity by placing stiff penalties on offenders,” he said.
During 2006-2008, the UAE ranked sixth in the region with 36 numbers of raids in which counterfeit medicines were seized. Israel topped the list of 10 countries with 162 raids. “Four other incidents in the UAE discovered goods that were being diverted to another country,” said Ashley How, regional director for Pharmaceutical Security Institute.
In 2008, China ranked number one among the world’s top 10 countries producing the highest number of counterfeit medicines. Other countries include South Korea, the US, India, Japan and Colombia.
“The global trade movement of counterfeit (medicines) includes Europe as well as the Middle East region,” said How, adding that worldwide, countries were taking effective steps to curb the incidents.“In 2008, China made 162 arrests while 188 people were arrested in this region from 2006-2008,” he explained. As part of a global raid operation, which took place across 25 countries in 2008, 794 websites were found to be engaged in illegal activities, including selling of counterfeit drugs.
In 2008, $3.1 million worth of Pfizer counterfeit drugs were seized in the region. “It is not only expensive drugs that are duplicated but even common ones such as Ponstan,” said Steve Allen, Pfizer’s senior director for Global Security.
“This is because people would prefer buying a drug from a known company rather than an unknown,” he said, adding that 30 of the company’s well known drugs including Viagra, Ponstan, Xanax and weight loss drug Lipitor had been copied.
Dependence on imports a challenge
The expanded volume of imported medical products and medicinal ingredients is a challenge for the country, said Dr Mohammed Abu Elkhair, Head of Pharma/Medicine and Medical Products Regulation Section, Health Authority of Abu Dhabi.
Only 20 per cent of the medicines needed in the UAE are manufactured locally, thus increasing a chance of counterfeit trade. “Only increased penalties as proposed in the law can help curb the trade,” he said.
Quoting a recently held study in Abu Dhabi, Dr Elkhair said only 40-50 per cent of the registered medicines are available in the country.
The Health Ministry has also increased raids and inspections and toughened punishments against violators. “Two doctors have recently been blacklisted GCC-wide while in 2008 we closed two factories. This year, 35 pharmacies have been shut down for selling fake drugs,” said Dr Amin Al Amiri.
Other measures taken by the ministry include quality control analysis, inclusion of new technologies to identify fake medicines, tougher imports control, and advertisement control