Afro-IP: fake drugs

Showing posts with label fake drugs. Show all posts

Friday, 28 October 2011

Anti-Counterfeit Friday

By Darren Olivier Friday, October 28, 2011 1 comment:

Quote of the day: "Counterfeiting is a monster. You cut one hand and another one grows…" Tina Rose, an anti-counterfeit programme manager for aftermarket sales at HP.

"If you view counterfeit products as illegal competition that means we have helped our partners and retailers who sell our genuine products to operate in a much more fair environment by re moving those counterfeit products from the market." Tina Rose in The National. And, HP’s raid in South Africa here.

Practical difficulties spotting fake intellects

A good story about counterfeits: innovating to stop it. Pharmasecure secures funding for its anti-counterfeiting technology. Marketwatch

Afro Leo’s fun pick of the day: Zimbabwe’s problem with Counterfeit Intellectuals

The Chinese have endorsed a culture of copying (all about sharing) which is why they are such prolific copiers and why one has to understand their culture before being over critical about their IP regime. Heard that before? This fascinating short history of money published by Businessweek describes how the Ming Dynasty in China denounced counterfeiting several centuries ago “To counterfeit is death…” Buck up.

Counterfeit toys confiscated in England to be donated to children in Africa BBC Afro Leo says Santa Claus, this sounds kind but it is promoting an accepting culture for counterfeits in Africa, creating demand and perpetuating the problem.

Ethiopia and Samsung to collaborate against counterfeits

The Tobacco Institute of South Africa said over the past month, more than 160 million counterfeit cigarettes have been confiscated in the country. EyewitnessNews

On the Health Affairs blog Daniele Dionisio makes the case for a stronger regulatory regime to curb “bad medicines” and strikes at the confusion caused by bad drafting of anti-counterfeit legislation in East Africa, particularly. A slightly different but equally persuasive take on the problem revealed by this piece on AEI on sub-standard (as opposed to fake) medicines.

The workshop organised by the Assembly's Committee on Communications, Trade and Investment (CTI) took place on October 16-19, 2011. The topics ranged from: avenues for Private Public Partnerships (PPP) to curb imported sub-standards and counterfeit goods in the EAC region, the EAC's outlook on the counterfeits and anti-dumping. Plenary discussions on the how to strengthen quality infrastructure to prevent entry of sub-standard goods in the EAC region are also envisaged. StarAfrica

Fake drug progess in Kenya! and compulsory licensing

By Darren Olivier Wednesday, September 22, 2010 No comments:

Kenya's Daily Nation reports that efforts to curb counterfeit drugs in the region are bearing fruit alongside some disturbing news about how Kenyans are being diagnosed with incorrect drugs:

"The minister [Medical Services minister Anyang’ Nyong’o], however, said counterfeit drugs were no longer a big problem in the country because of a cross-border effort to reduce their prevalence."

“Working closely with the police, CID and Interpol in these countries, we have been able to reduce significantly the prevalence of fake drugs,” says Chief Government Pharmacist Kipkerich Koskei.

Afro Leo wonders whether just the one significant push against counterfeit drugs (see Afro-IP post here) has made that much impact or whether there is indeed a glimmer of light. Perhaps readers will comment below.

Meanwhile Alec van Gelder has written in to Afro Leo defending his article in the WSJ reported here and informing us of a paper that will be published soon explaining in more detail his position.

Alec has also directed us to this article published just recently: Epstein, Richard A. and Kieff, F. Scott, Questioning the Frequency and Wisdom of Compulsory Licensing for Pharmaceutical Patents (August 17, 2010). U of Chicago Law & Economics, Olin Working Paper No. 527. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1660702 :

"Any need to help poor people gain access should not rely on CL, but instead should rely on tools precisely aimed at that purpose, including direct government purchases of patented drugs from their manufacturers at negotiated prices."

Thanks Alec.