Anvisa calls for participation of the population in the fight against fake drugs and without registration
Source: Focus Magazine - 02/09/2010
Agency Brazil
The director-president of the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), Dirceu Raposo, asked on Monday (12) that the population actively participate in the fight against fake or contraband drugs - sold in the country without a license from health authorities.
During the launch of the “True Medication: You Know What You Are Taking” campaign, Raposo recalled that the counterfeit medicine is produced in a way that is very similar to the original.
For this reason, it is necessary to be attentive to details on the medicine packaging itself, such as the scratch card, the protective seal, the batch number, the expiration date, the Ministry of Health registration number and the telephone number to contact the manufacturer.
One of the alerts made by Anvisa is that the sale of fake or smuggled drugs is no longer restricted to street vendors and fairs. Currently, according to Raposo, it is possible to find the products in regular pharmacies, with authorization for operation, and, in many cases, linked to the Popular Pharmacy program. For him, the fact constitutes an “aggravating factor” to the crime.
“This is due to the way our society views the pharmaceutical establishment. It has become trivialized in such a way that some have repeatedly committed this type of crime. We also identified that, many times, these products arrive not through the bag of some country, they come through distributors that sell products ”, he explained.
According to Raposo, Anvisa has already asked the National Congress to review the rules for opening and operating pharmacies across the country. Currently, 80 thousand pharmacies are open in Brazil.
According to the president of the National Council to Combat Piracy, André Barcelos, the campaign arrives “in good time” since between 10% and 20% of the medicines sold worldwide are smuggled. He recalled that Brazilian law treats crime as heinous.
The volume of seizures made with the support of the Federal Police increased from 40 tons of drugs in 2008 to 316 tons last year.
