Source: ETCO Magazine, No. 7, Sept. 2007

Illegal exchange of medicines is one of the main evils
that affect the health of consumers in Brazil, as they are the biggest losers,
especially the lower class. When you arrive at the pharmacy with a prescription,
often the clerk changes the recipe, that is, offers another
medicine. The point is that, under Brazilian law, the only exchange of information
prescription that can occur at the pharmacy counter is a reference product
(from a patent-holding laboratory) by its generic, which
contains the same active ingredient and the same behavior in the human organism that
their respective reference medicine. But, according to a large study of
McKinsey on the pharmaceutical industry, it doesn't always happen. O
survey revealed that, in retail, 27% of drug sales in the classes
researched therapies (amoxicillin, potassium diclofenac, loratadine
enalapril emaleate) are made through the illegal exchange of prescriptions.
Em
In many cases, the drugs offered are not even in the same class
therapeutic or have the same characteristics as the original, contrary to what
exchange with an official generic.

McKinsey's research further revealed that this occurs mainly
because these sales are subsidized by the award laboratories or commission
which creates a vicious circle of informality. This procedure is
also a reflection of the absence of the pharmacist in drugstores. The study showed that the
number of pharmacists in drugstores should be at least three times higher
current to comply with current regulations. Brazil has 52.800 pharmacies
and drugstores registered with the Federal Pharmacy Council and only 35 thousand
pharmacists working. There is a deficit of at least 200% of pharmacists
trained to work in pharmacies. It is estimated that the damage
of practice could reach R $ 5 billion.

View the full article published in the issue no. 7 da
ETCO Magazine