Gathered from 25 to 30 January 2016, the WHO Executive Board issued a report presenting the results of the last committee meeting – in November 2015 – on the quality of substandard/spurious/falsely labelled/falsified/counterfeit (SSFFC) medical products. The meeting on 19 and 20 November 2015 led to the establishment of a global exchange of information and consultation network among member States, and established a virtual exchange forum.
The committee is working on several activities against SSFFC medical products and especially on traceability systems. It is also preparing a draft study on the public health and the socio-economic impact of SSFFC medical products. One of the points discussed during the meeting remains the problem of access to quality medicines in developing countries. Other points raised in the discussion are the transit issue raised by India, and the question of change of acronym SSFFC which was supposed to be a temporary terminology. Many countries have expressed their willingness to change it to facilitate the understanding of this acronym and its definition too difficult to keep in mind.
The WHO provides the figure at around 1,000 SSFFC medical products reported, from all therapeutic classes and from both genuine and generic drugs.
The next meeting of the Executive Board is set in March, 2016.
Source: IP Watch & WHO
Read the WHO report issued on 11 December 2015: “ REPORT OF THE FOURTH MEETING OF THE MEMBER STATE MECHANISM ON SUBSTANDARD/SPURIOUS/FALSELY-LABELLED/FALSIFIED/ COUNTERFEIT MEDICAL PRODUCTS”