Fuente: © Council of Europe
http://www.coe.int/

COE: Council of Europe training for police in fighting more effectively counterfeit medicines

/noticias.info/ Strasbourg, 20.06.2008 – Some 30 police officers, customs officers and inspectors are to attend a training course in Strasbourg on 26 and 27 June organised by the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM), which is part of the Council of Europe. The aim is to train them to acquire know-how for combating counterfeit medicines more effectively.

The extent of counterfeiting is almost impossible to gauge. According to the World Health Organisation counterfeit medicines account for less than 1% of the market in the developed countries, which have powerful regulatory control mechanisms. But up to 50% of medicines sold in developing countries and over the Internet can be counterfeits.

The EDQM underlines that counterfeiting of medical products, from manufacture through supply to the patient, is a serious criminal offence which endangers human lives and undermines public confidence in health care systems.

The participants in the Strasbourg training course are from 13 European countries. They will look at the various issues raised by counterfeiting of medicines, existing control systems and practical investigation procedures, the standard procedure in use and co-operation methods. The EDQM is hoping the course will help create a platform for ongoing training in protection of public health in Europe.

The Council of Europe committee of experts on minimising public health risks posed by counterfeiting of medicine and related crimes, organises its work programme around co-operation between all parties involved, setting up a special information system and training.

A press conference will be held in the EDQM building (7 Allée Kastner, Room 200) at 2.00 p.m on Wednesday 25 June.

Notes:

· The EDQM elaborates quality standards for the manufacture and quality control of medicines in Europe (a European Pharmacopoeia comprising over 2,000 standards). It also promotes a system of co-operation involving about 100 official medicines control laboratories (OMCLs) in 35 countries.

· A counterfeit medicine is a medicine fraudulently labelled to hide its true nature and/or source. There is counterfeiting both of proprietary products and generic ones. Counterfeit medicines may be products with a genuine active ingredient but have fake packaging, or contain a different active ingredient or no active ingredient at all, or have an insufficient quantity of the active ingredient.

· In September 2007 the Council of Europe adopted a resolution on good practices for distributing medicines via mail order (ResAP(2007)2).
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