Drugs with false labels are nothing less than conterfeits

Consumers buy products across the counter on the basis of the reputation they have created for themselves either by being consistently efficacious and generating an element of trust, or by clever advertising which makes the customer feel that the product is a ‘must’ in his daily life.

But the fact is that not all the products being sold by a brand name are produced by the company that markets it.

This phenomenon has led to the concept of getting products of a brand being manufactured at several sites through a host of local producers, under a system known as ‘loan licencing’ where the original licence is with the big company, but several satellite companies produce the product under the directions and conditions of the original
licence-holder.

All that the latter does is to market the product across the country. Hence, the consumer may not necessarily know that a product is made by the third party, which would amount to denial of proper information. Quality control is also an issue; can the product licence-holder guarantee the quality assured by the local manufacturer? And finally, does the label of the product clearly mention that the product is made by a third party?

All these points have now come to a head with the International Medical Products Counterfeiting Task force (IMPACT), a body funded by the World Heath Organisation (WHO) stating that, henceforth, drugs which are sold with a false representation about their identity, history or source, packaging and container will be treated as ‘counterfeit’.
IMPACT was founded in 2006 by the WHO to tackle the menace of counterfeit drugs all over the world.

However, Indian manufacturers have raised a hue and cry over the new conditions laid down by IMPACT.

The government may take a leaf out of the IMPACT decision and should think of applying it to domestic products by appropriate legislation on the subject.