GSK presses Kenya to tighten up

Afp reports that UK-based pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline has urged the Kenyan government to crack down on imports of fake medicines, which are said to account for a third of the country's drugs trade. The company's east Africa head John Musunga said that, while GSK had no problem with parallel trade -- importation of cheaper products with the intent of charging less than the competitors in the retail market -- the authorities should tighten up their monitoring and enforcement procedures. Musunga goes furthe than that, though: "Exposing medicines to high temperatures or unfavourable conditions changes the composition of the drugs, rendering them ineffective"; this can be a problem with parallel imported drugs, regardless of whether the importation is legitimate.