Laboratories are united against drug fraudsters
Source: Superávit - MG - 15/08/2009
To face the advance of counterfeits and the sale of unregistered medicines in the Brazilian market, which reached the alarming number of more than 300 tons seized by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), in the last two years alone, 31 pharmaceutical laboratories installed in Brazil - Members of Interfarma and responsible for almost 60% of the Brazilian drug market, set up the working group to combat informality and medical piracy. The target of the actions, to be developed jointly with government agencies, are precisely unregistered drugs, smuggling and cargo theft.
The seriousness of the problem - shown by the State of Minas / Correio Braziliense, in a series of reports throughout this week - is admitted by Luciano Lima Pereira, the entity's administrative director, who says that, so far, he does not have reliable data on the progress of this crime in the country. As a result, according to Pereira, the main objective of Interfarma is the development of software capable of promoting the crossing of information and data related to police events. “Only then will we be able to discover the main routes of counterfeiters, the most targeted drugs and the entrance doors. Until now, information was handled by interested parties in a disjointed manner ”, he explains.
Pereira says that the laboratories have as partners in this endeavor government agencies such as the Federal Police, Anvisa, the Federal Highway Police, the National Council for Combating Piracy and Intellectual Property Offenses of the Ministry of Justice, in addition to non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Although the group was created just five months ago, it is already promoting meetings to discuss the problem, which take place at least twice a month. An international seminar is planned for October in the triple border region, which will bring together Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Argentina. "Our goal is to learn about the piracy scenario in the region and also discuss a legal alignment," says Pereira.
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Even in the absence of safe statistics, the National Association for Combating Piracy estimates that 80% of all pirated material has the border with Paraguay as the gateway to the Brazilian market. Analysis of data by Anvisa's Institutional Security Advisory also points out that, in addition to Paraguay, which would be an important hub for the export of counterfeit drugs and without registration to Brazil, the border to Bolivia is an important route for fraudsters, as it does not has adequate inspection conditions.
Jails (MT) have been used as another option to get pirated medicines to reach the entire country, with distribution from São Paulo. In the past two years, Anvisa has registered seizures of false and unregistered drug shipments in at least 73 municipalities in the country, which demonstrates that the problem is widespread from the north to the south of the country, regardless of the size of the municipality.