It is a globalized and illegal market that manages to thrive because it remains submerged and hardly traceable.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 drug out of 10 on the European continent is fake, with a turnover 25 times higher than that of drugs.
The main countries from which counterfeit or falsified medicines come from are China, Hong Kong, Singapore and India. In Italy these drugs arrive through parallel or illegal network or are used on the web.
Erectile dysfunction drugs, in particular, are among those most easily found in unauthorized sales channels and rank second among those most frequently intercepted by customs seizures.
According to the AIFA 2018 report, it constitutes as much as 60% -70% of the total counterfeit drugs in Italy.
The health risks to which patients are exposed without being aware of it have prompted IBSA to undertake a campaign against counterfeiting of medicines.
There may be medicines without active ingredients, different active ingredients or present in quantities different from those declared in the packs or package leaflets, in any case they are medicines of poor quality and safety as production and distribution do not take place in compliance with GMP standards (good manufacturing practices) and GDP (good distribution rules).
The patient who takes a counterfeit drug risks both the lack of therapeutic activity and possible side effects.
