More than 200 advertisements removed for misleading information on COVID-19 drugs

By Espinosa Bellido Abogados

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, Peru’s Commission for the Control of Unfair Competition eliminated 219 misleading advertisements on products intended for the prevention and treatment of the disease.

According to the National Institute for the Defense of Free Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (Indecopi), institution on which the Unfair Competition Commission depends, all products were advertised through digital commerce platforms and were related to vitamin supplements, sanitary clothes, masks, gloves, disinfectants, natural products, medications, rapid tests, gels and alcohol, among others.

As of June 30, Indecopi had started preliminary investigations on 307 suppliers who deceptively promoted the products on online platforms.

Interpol has alerted that since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the threat posed by fake medicines and medical products has increased dramatically. Organized crime groups take advantage of the high market demand for medicines, personal protection and hygiene products and make lucrative profits from the sale of counterfeit items. Alongside this illicit trade, criminals also engage in online fraud, scams, email and phone phishing, and malware distribution.

To date, the most counterfeited products reported by Interpol member countries are medicines (antivirals, herbal medicines and malaria treatments), medical equipment (face masks, disinfectants, fake coronavirus test kits, gloves and ventilators), and sanitizers (substandard hand sanitizers, gels, soaps and cleaning wipes).