10% of Medications in Mexico May Be Fake, Warns Health Coalition

By Goodrich, Riquelme y Asociados

Cosadim, the Coalition for Digital Health in Mexico, recently issued a warning that an estimated 10% of medications circulating in the country are counterfeit or of low quality. 

Cosadim emphasizes the risk this poses to public health. Counterfeit medications can delay recovery from illnesses, worsen existing conditions, and even lead to serious side effects.  

The presence of counterfeit medicines is not a new issue. A World Health Organization research estimates that 1 in 10 medical products circulating in low- and middle-income countries is either substandard or falsified.

Prior to 2013, there was no global reporting of this information. Since WHO established the Global Surveillance and Monitoring System for substandard and falsified products, many countries are now active in reporting suspicious medicines, vaccines and medical devices. WHO has trained 550 regulators from 141 countries to detect and respond to this issue. As more people are trained, more cases are reported to WHO.

WHO has received reports of substandard or falsified medical products ranging from cancer treatment to contraception. They are not confined to high-value medicines or well-known brand names and are split almost evenly between generic and patented products.

Substandard medical products reach patients when the tools and technical capacity to enforce quality standards in manufacturing, supply and distribution are limited. Falsified products, on the other hand, tend to circulate where inadequate regulation and governance are compounded by unethical practice by wholesalers, distributors, retailers and health care workers.