Counterfeit Medicines - Public Campaign

[Pharmer]

A major publicity campaign has started about counterfeit medicines bought over the internet. The campaign is being run by a group that includes Pfizer, the MHRA and a number of health charities. It includes a cinema advert being shown in cinemas across the UK. The cinema advert can be seen at the following website realdanger.co.uk | The real danger of counterfeit medicines and adverts in national papers. The cinema advert is hard hitting and focuses on the dangers of buying medicines over the internet. The newspaper adverts refer to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s internet pharmacy logo scheme and you can get details of this at the following website Rpsgb.org: Internet pharmacy logo

This campaign is likely to create interest among your patients and you may get asked about counterfeit medicines. We have produced some guidance about counterfeit medicines and this can be found at http://www.rpsgb.org/pdfs/counterfeitmedsguid.pdf . The RPSGB is also holding a seminar on Combating Counterfeiting on 18 March; for programme details click here.



Battling counterfeit medicines is in all our interests. The message that we want to get across to patients is that the only safe place to obtain prescription only medicines is through a registered pharmacy.


Best wishes,


David Pruce

Director of Policy & Communications

Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain

[Nik]

Talk about hard hitting - that almost made me puke.

[PinkGlitter]

Well that ad is certainly memorable! Might put people off their popcorn and nachos in the cinema!

[Part Timer]

Ironic that they chose rat poison as the example though, wonder if anyone will connect it to the warfarin we give out every day?

[johnep]

Do Pfizer market a brand of anticoagulant in the USA?
johnep

[Fleegle]

Don't really get the point..rat-poison? At least it killed and instantly regurgitated the rat he mistakenly swallowed, with no immediately apparent ill-effects...should that not be construed as a cure? Typically misplaced, sensationalistic advertising courtesy of an expensive marketing firm. Smacks of "AIDS DON'T DIE OF IGNORANCE" The usual.

Purely my own thoughts.

Fleegle.

[Pharmanaut]

About time someone did something - however, the counterfeiters will move on (or back) to something else. Car parts, aircraft parts, medical devices?

[DavidS]

Don't really get the point..rat-poison?

Memorable though, isn't it? I think that's what its about. And I think the actor earned his fee, although I don't know how skilful you would need to be to act like he did! (OK, The rat did well, too.) I won't forget it for a while, although the plot had more holes than an episode of Midsomer Murders.

Perhaps it should be put on Youtube so that those looking to buy internet drugs and such items will find it. Although in my recent experience you don't have to actually search for fake internet drug sites, the spammers do that chore for us

[bobbin]

Do Pfizer market a brand of anticoagulant in the USA?
johnep

Not sure, the best known US brand of warfarin, Coumadin, is made by Bristol-Myers Squibb. Interesting enough, I just learnt on the wonderful Wikipedia that warfarin is no longer a favoured rat poison because much more potent poisons have now been developed.

Pfizer are understandably keen to reduce the popularity of counterfeit internet Viagra. I imagine they are also keen to reduce patient confidence in parallel imports. Fear of counterfeits may lead to increased patient rejection of PIs. Perhaps if Pfizer was willing to offer better discounts to pharmacy on its UK products, pharmacies wouldn't want to use Pfizer PIs anyway............

Bobbin

[johnep]

Brought back memories of Marcoumar brand of dicoumarin which I used to try to sell near 50 years ago. Later discovered that coumarin derivatives gave a fresh 'grassy' smell in perfumes.
johnep