Fight the Fakes Alliance

A recent post by The Partnership for Safe Medicines draws attention to the important FDA warning letter that highlighted critical issues with faulty and incompatible syringes produced by a Chinese medical manufacturing company for Cardinal Health. The recall initiated in March 2024 emphasizes the importance of stringent quality control in our industry. Ensuring #patientsafety and maintaining #compliance with #regulatory standards are paramount. It’s crucial that manufacturers prioritize corrective actions to address these concerns and prevent similar issues in the future. For more details, read the full post below. #FightTheFakes #SFs #supplychain 

FTFA member, US Pharmacopeia, recently discussed the challenges related to drug shortages and nitrosamine impurities. Through two interviews, their post highlights what shifts need to be made in order to allow supply chains to better sustain themselves, and to ensure that drugs are safe and up to standard. This is an important discussion as we work to fight against #SFs! #FightFakeMeds #fakemeds #FightTheFakes #supplychain

Today, October 14th, 2024, we celebrate World Standards Day, a vital opportunity to reflect on the importance of international standards in promoting safety, quality, and efficiency across various sectors.   Substandard and fake medicines pose a severe threat to public health, and standards play a crucial role in ensuring that medicines and medical products are safe, effective, and authentic.   This year, the theme for World Standards Day is “Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure in the Age if AI” with a focus on SDG 9. SDG 9 emphasizes the development of resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and encouraging innovation. All of these aspects are important towards the fight against #SFs.   Join us in the advocacy for improved international standards in an effort to combat #fakemeds! #WorldStandardsDay #InternationalStandards #fightfakemeds #FightTheFakes

FTFA is proud to share a critical message from our member, US Pharmacopeia on World Standards Day. USP is dedicated to combining their commitment, scientific rigor, and passion for pharmaceutical sciences and #PublicHealth to develop, review, and revise quality standards for medicines, dietary supplements, and foods. USP is committed to leading the way to a healthier, safer, and more resilient world. #WorldStandardsDay #ProudToBeUSP #FightTheFakes

GS1 is a member of the Fight the Fakes Alliance, and both the Alliance and GS1 recognize how standards play a crucial role in combatting fake medicines. By enabling industries to foster transparency and efficiency across global supply chains, we can work towards fighting against #SFs. Together, let’s leverage these standards to combat fake medicines and ensure that everyone has access to safe and effective products. #FighttheFakes #WorldStandardsDay #GS1 #Sustainability #Innovation

On October 3rd, FTFA was invited by World Trade Organization to speak at a closed-doors panel discussion about “Substandard, Falsified and Counterfeit Medical Products” alongside World Health Organization and the World Customs Organization. The event brought together country representatives from 30+ countries in the context of WTO’s annual Trade and Public Health Workshop.   Building on FTFA white paper, participants learned about the dangers of #fakemeds, but also about the solutions that exist and could be expanded further to fight #SFs, including accredited drug dispensing outlets, political commitments to harmonize regulations like in the #LomeInitiative, the empowerment of custom officers, public campaigns to raise awareness of buying drugs from unverified sources online and on the street, and more.   FTFA white paper: https://bit.ly/3LIKh5I   #FighttheFakes Andrea Vassalotti Sophie Robert

As part of its Minilab project to combat #fakemeds, the Global Pharma Health Fund (GPHF) is now providing a test to detect the toxic antifreeze agents diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol (EG). The toxic industrial solvents DEG and EG have been repeatedly found in children's cough syrups in the past and pose a fatal risk as they can lead to kidney failure, especially in children. The new test is intended to support national quality control laboratories in particular to detect DEG/EG contamination and prevent the use of adulterated liquid preparations for oral use. The new test protocol can be downloaded free of charge in English, French and Spanish here: https://lnkd.in/dhypb65w The GPHF-Minilab is a portable mini-laboratory designed to detect substandard, falsified, and adulterated medicines, especially in regions lacking advanced analytical tools. It offers a cost-effective solution to enhance testing capacity, often supplementing existing laboratories. #FighttheFakes

Regulatory pharmaceutical matters play a critical role in the fight against #SFs. Pharmacists role in this fight is important to recognize and support. It is always great to see the upcoming generation of pharmacists committed to this mission and are passionate about ensuring patient safety. #WPD Read more about SFs here: https://bit.ly/4d3eQ2B https://lnkd.in/d84M696x

In honor of #WPD, we'd like to emphasize pharmacists' role in regulatory affairs and its importance to fighting #SFs. Pharmacists, as FIP President Paul Sinclair mentioned, play a vital role in public health and ensuring patient safety. Read and learn more about the problem of substandard and falsified medicines from our report here: https://bit.ly/4d3eQ2B 

Yesterday, we had the honor of hosting Michel Sidibe at our headquarters to explore collaborations aimed at strengthening medicines quality assurance and regulatory systems across Africa to ensure supply chain integrity. The visit underscored our shared commitment to supporting the African Medicines Agency to emerge as a critical continental regulatory body and key enabler to boost local pharmaceutical manufacturing.