SEA/RC61/27 - Counterfeit medicines

Abstract

The meeting of the Advisory Committee to review technical matters to be discussed at the Sixty-first Session of the Regional Committee, held in the Regional Office for South- East Asia from 30 June to 3 July 2008,proposed the issue of counterfeit medicines as an agenda item for the Regional Committee. It was agreed that the subject merits attention but members expressed concern that various issues pertaining to counterfeit medicines such as definition, terminology and other aspects were not fully understood. For example, in recent documents the scope has been expanded from medicines to medical products. Also, the magnitude of the problem of counterfeit medicines in Member countries of the South-East Asia Region is not known and needs to be assessed after these issues are clarified. Therefore, it was recommended that the Regional Office organize a meeting to clarify the various issues related to counterfeit medicines/medical products. An Inter-country Consultation on Combating Counterfeit Medicines was held at the Regional Office in New Delhi, 7-8 August 2008. This paper summarizes the meeting’s discussion and recommendations.