Medicines for Europe joints counterfeit medicines campaign

Medicines for Europe announced at a satellite meeting of the World Health Assembly that it has joined the Fight the Fakes campaign.

Medicines for Europe (formerly the EGA) - which represents generic and biosimilar drugmakers - said that the move "acknowledges the magnitude of the problem related to the existence and spread of fake medicines."

Fight the Fakes "represents a great opportunity for a multi-stakeholder and multi-disciplinary collaboration," commented Adrian van den Hoven, director general of Medicines for Europe. Substandard/spurious/falsely-labelled/falsified/ counterfeit medical products (SSFFCs) represent "a global challenge affecting in particular patients in low- and middle-income countries," he added.

The organisation joins more than 30 other partners from around the world that will collaborate in raising awareness of fake medicines as part of the Fight the Fakes campaign.