Julia LaÃn-Abril
CEU San Pablo University, Spain
Title: Falsified medicines: Past, present and future
Biography
Biography: Julia LaÃn-Abril
Abstract
Counterfeit drugs are a worldwide issue and its impact on public health is very well documented, being responsible for not only resistance to medicines but also patient deaths. Regulatory authorities are responsible for ensuring patients’ safety through the establishment of regulations that protect the four basic bioethical principles (autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice) and fighting against the counterfeit market. It is a fact that Internet has increased the breaches in the supply chains of highly regulated markets through online pharmacies that may be illicit or poorly regulated. The WHO states that medicines obtained from illegal Internet sites that hide their physical address are counterfeit in over a 50% of the cases. After studying the measures taken by regulatory authorities to ensure the safety of medicines and carefully analysing the current bioethical situation of the online market, it has been observed that Internet does not have an ethical code and most anti-counterfeit actions taken are focused on increasing the awareness of the consumer, reassuring the principle of autonomy. However, there are no actions detected to protect the principles of beneficence, non-maleficence and justice. It is suggested that further online anti-counterfeit measures focus on avoiding the reach of counterfeits to the online market instead of solely warning the consumers to prevent the purchase. For this, it will be necessary the collaboration of different parties - regulatory authorities, pharmaceutical companies, healthcare professionals, patients, government, police and customs - as well as a stronger will to promote an ethical online behaviour.