On October 17, the Minister of Justice, José Eduardo Cardozo, the Director-President of the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), Dirceu Barbano, and the President of the National Council to Combat Piracy and Intellectual Property Offenses ( CNCP), Paulo Abrão, met with civil society organizations, authorities and specialists in the medicine sector to discuss a topic of great relevance for Brazilian society: informality in the pharmaceutical sector and its impacts on public health. The seminar, held in the auditorium of the newspaper O Globo, in Rio de Janeiro, was organized by the Association of the Pharmaceutical Research Industry (Interfarma), chaired by Antonio Britto, and was also attended by the Chief Executive of ETCO, Roberto Abdenur, among other guests.

In his presentation speech, Antonio Britto highlighted the relevance of the meeting, recalling that, “although comparisons should not be made with other segments of the economy, it is always worth remembering that, in the medication sector, informality has a direct impact on public health , often with life risks for the population ”. He also warned that “due to the size of the market it represents, Brazil has been the preferred target for actions involving theft, counterfeiting and evasion of medicines”.

Minister defends the union of efforts

"Join efforts, minds and forces". This was the keynote of the speech by the Minister of Justice, José Eduardo Cardozo, who spoke at the opening of the event about the challenges to curb activities such as smuggling and counterfeiting in the sector. For him, who still considers actions to combat drug piracy to be insufficient, the discussion on the subject goes through three perspectives for reflection. "We must always be aware of the normative, operational and educational aspects," he said.

Demonstrating some tranquility with the normative aspect - "it is not a problem of standards, but of making them leave the paper" - he was more concerned with the operational, stating that "a lot has already been done, the results are positive, but they are still far below our needs ”, emphasized the Minister. Difficulties in border inspection and “globalization of organized crime” are, for him, the main problems that the country faces today in the effectiveness of actions to combat the illegal trade of medicines.

Finally, in addressing the issue of education, the Minister stated that campaigns and policies in this direction must take into account the undeniable fact that there is a demand for illegal trade. "The fact is that people buy and need to be informed about the risk they are taking, they need to know how to differentiate the illegal from the legal". The development of mass actions and the production of booklets were some examples pointed out by Cardozo as ways to raise awareness in society. In conclusion, he said he was "fully willing to fully embrace this cause".

Research reveals drug consumption habits

One of the subjects most commented on by the panelists was the survey “Perceptions about Medicines”, prepared by IBOPE Inteligência at the request of Interfarma. The study revealed that the purchase of over-the-counter medications is practiced by a fifth of the Brazilian population, a habit that is even more common in the capitals and in the Northeast region, where 24% of those interviewed by IBOPE admitted not presenting a medical prescription. This is an alarming fact, aggravated by the finding that 6% of Brazilians claim to buy medicines from street vendors, an index that reaches 18% in the North.

"This research is an example that Brazil is in a very high state of informality for a country that seeks to achieve high levels of its rule of law", said the President of CNCP, Paulo Abrão. He broadened the discussion by reflecting: “if there are this provision in an area where health risk is involved, imagine in relation to others, such as software, where there are no such direct effects ”.

For him, the problem of informality is less a question of security and more of a question of politics and justice, which involves the expansion of the rule of law. "It is essential to increase the credibility of the State and institutions, the effects of which are given in the field of tax evasion, where the State loses revenue and the capacity to apply revenues in the provision of public services," said Abrão.

Among the initiatives of the CNCP, Abrão highlighted the Cidade Livre de Pirataria Program, which, under the management of ETCO, is already implemented in four capitals in the country and is beginning to deliver very positive results.

In this regard, ETCO's Executive President, Roberto Abdenur, informed that, “in addition to São Paulo, Curitiba, Distrito Federal and Belo Horizonte, the city of Rio de Janeiro should soon sign the Cooperation Agreement and become the fifth capital of the country to be part of the program ”. He agreed with Paulo Abrão when he stated that what is at stake is the perception of citizenship. “This is a moral problem, which must be addressed not only from a repressive point of view, but also from the perspective of awareness, and the Cidade Livre de Piratação Program foresees two strands of work”, said Abdenur.

Anvisa's CEO, Dirceu Barbano, presented impressive results from the actions developed by the partnership between the Agency and the Ministry of Justice, which started in 2007. Since then, 170 operations have been carried out, with 648 arrests, 2.611 inspected sites and 978 interdicted. The seized material includes more than 140 units of counterfeit and smuggled drugs, 420.996 boxes of controlled drugs and 425 tons of unregistered, expired or improper drugs. Barbano also explained that the remedies that suffer the most counterfeiting in Brazil are those that fight erectile dysfunction, anabolic steroids, slimming pills, abortion drugs and herbal medicines. "Seizures also show that most of these drugs reach consumers through pharmacies," he concluded.

The seminar also featured a presentation by the President of the National Forum Against Piracy (FNCP), Edsom Vismona, for whom “deviations in the medicine sector go beyond informality and should be treated as illegal, since they involve smuggling, evasion, corruption, damage to health and even trafficking in drugs, weapons and slave labor ”.

The Executive Director of the American organization The Partnership for Safe MedicinesScott La Ganga, an international guest at the seminar, highlighted the importance of cooperation between governments, regulatory agencies and the private sector, and showed successful experiences in combating counterfeit drugs in the United States and other countries where the organization operates.

Finally, Senator Humberto Costa presented bills of his own designed to combat counterfeiting of medicines in the country.