Procurement Intelligence Unit

Pharmacists in two Australian states have found counterfeits of Viagra in the wholesale drug market. Not only does it raise doubts about the local market, but it highlights vulnerabilities in the global pharmaceutical supply chain.

At least 776 packs of substandard Viagra drugs were found in New South Wales and Victoria. The discovery has initiated a nationwide search for other counterfeit products. The Pharmacy Guild of Australia viewed the entry of illicit copies into the medical supply chain as "a very disturbing matter."

The erectile dysfunction drug has brought in US$1.9 billion sales for Pfizer, Viagra's developer and distributor. The batch was investigated once customers complained that the pills had no effect. The copies were found to be lacking in sildenafil, Viagra's active ingredient. Pfizer claimed that the counterfeit consignment likely originated from China.

China has long struggled to combat counterfeit drugs. A 2006 International Policy Network study estimated that between 200,000 and 300,000 people die each year because of dubious medicine. The same research organisation recently found that 7% of the world's wholesale drug supply was substandard, half of which contained no active ingredient whatsoever.

The WHO estimates that the volume of counterfeit medication is low in industrialised nations, representing less than 1% of total drug supplies. However, in those countries with lower regulatory enforcement capacities, the problem can be much worse. In 2009, anti-malarial drugs in Tanzania were recalled, and two people in China died as false anti-diabetic medicine contained poisonous ingredients.

The problem can be particularly troubling for drugs bought over the internet. Over 50% of web-sourced drugs are counterfeit when procured from sites concealing their physical address.

Pharmaceutical companies have been meeting the challenge of this growing threat. Sanofi-Aventis recently launched a three-phase, anti-counterfeit medication initiative in Egypt and is working closely with the domestic authorities to eradicate counterfeits in the local supply chain. The Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative, for instance, is a group of major firms within the sector to ensure ethical and environmental practice within the pharmaceutical supply chain.

Consumers entirely trust that the drugs they consume are safe and subject to rigorous testing. However, that counterfeit medicine can enter into the supply chain lessens confidence throughout the entire supply chain.

Governments and companies already expend significant resources in ensuring the purity of the health wholesale market. But clearly, in an increasingly globalised and technologically sophisticated world, illegal operators have a higher change of producing counterfeits and penetrating the porous supply chains of lightly regulated states. Now that invasions of substandard health products are becoming increasingly frequent in the industrialised markets, national (and international) bodies may need to redouble their efforts in the future.