I write to thank you for your editorial titled “Strengthening the fight against counterfeit drugs” published on May 7, 2024. On top of recognizing our efforts in Congress to bolster the nation’s fight against the global scourge of drug counterfeiting, the editorial also served to help garner the support we need to shield our countrymen from the grave dangers posed by fake and substandard medicines in the market.
Counterfeit pharmaceutical products do not only endanger the people’s health, they could also kill. Last year, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that from July 2019 to December 2021, it tallied a total of 106,293 deaths resulting from overdoses of counterfeit pills.
In our country, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been vigilant in issuing warnings on the purchase and use of counterfeit drugs. In 2023, it advised the public against falling for the bogus versions of over-the-counter medications like Biogesic, Medicol, Kremil-S and Solmux.
Recently, the FDA issued an advisory against the purchase and use of the counterfeit version of Tetagam, an anti-tetanus vaccine. This latest warning shows how drug counterfeiters would go to great lengths to rake in billions at the expense of seriously endangering people’s lives.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that annually, up to $431 billion in drugs are counterfeited worldwide. Manufacturing and selling fake and substandard drugs have become an overly lucrative business for criminals.
We need tough measures to fight this growing threat to our people’s health and well-being. As you have pointed out in your editorial, House Bill No. 3984, which I have co-authored with Camarines Sur Representatives LRay Villafuerte, Migz Villafuerte, and Tsuyoshi Horibata aims to be part of our strong response to this scourge. It classifies the large-scale “manufacture, importation, distribution, sale, offering for sale, donation, trafficking, brokering, exportation, or possession of counterfeit pharmaceutical products” as acts of economic sabotage. These carry both administrative and criminal penalties that include fines of up to P10 million and life imprisonment.
The same penalties apply if the counterfeited product is determined to be the proximate cause of death of a victim who unknowingly bought and took it.
We will work hard to get this measure passed in Congress. But as you have correctly pointed out in your editorial, we need a whole-of-government approach and international cooperation to deal with this scourge. We cannot let our guard down.
Rep. Brian Raymund S. Yamsuan Bicol Saro Party-list
