Counterfeiting, fraud and related crimes pose significant challenges to virtually every industry. Listed below are facts and figures that highlight specific challenges that face the pharmaceuticals sector.
- Forecasts by the Center of Medicines in the Public Interest predict the global market for counterfeit drugs will reach $75 billion in 2010.
- Estimated deaths from counterfeit drugs vary from tens of thousands to more than 200,000.
- Of the 191 WHO member states, approximately 20% have well developed drug regulation. Of the remaining countries, roughly 50% implement drug regulation at varying levels of development and operational capacity. For approximately 30%, there is little or no drug regulation, or enforcement of any regulations in place is not pursued.
- Recent estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) place the counterfeit pharmaceutical market size at $40 billion, and in some developing countries counterfeits make up 25% or more of drugs on the market.
- 50 percent of pharmaceutical drugs sold over the Internet without a prescription are believed to be counterfeit.
- In casual surveys of clinical investigators, approximately 75% indicated they had witnessed what they believed to be evidence of clinical research fraud.