The US Pharmacopoeia is taking on counterfeiters. The nonprofit drug-quality standards group is setting up a database of fakes to aid enforcement officials and such international drug buyers as WHO.
Information sharing with national regulators is another objective. The database, expected to launch early next year, will help users monitor counterfeit and substandard drugs. In-PharmaTechnologist reports that it will be useful in cases like the recent incident in which counterfeit drugs spread to Mali after first being seized in Ghana. By using the database, Mali regulators would have been able to see that the products it received had the same batch numbers as those seized in Ghana.
The USP is currently entering counterfeit and substandard drug information into the database. Listings will include product name, country where seized, details and descriptors of its shortcoming (e.g., no API).
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- here's the release