• Home
  • About
    • Our team
    • Our members companies
    • Our corporate Alliance Partners
    • Our affiliations
    • Join
    • FAQs
  • Work Program
    • Support SHOP SAFE Act
    • Covid-19
    • Supply chain survey
    • Featured Report: The Human Cost of Illicit Trade
    • Featured Report: Fraudulent Advertising Online
    • Featured project: Global Illicit Trade Index
    • Featured Report: Illicit Trade and the UNSDGs
    • Featured Report: The Link Between Illicit Trade and Sovereign Credit Ratings
  • Sectors
    • Agri-food industry
    • Alcohol
    • Counterfeiting & Piracy
    • Cultural Property
    • Fisheries
    • Forced labor
    • Forestry
    • Pesticides
    • Petroleum
    • Pharmaceuticals
    • Precious metals and gemstones
    • Tobacco
    • Wildlife
  • Resources
    • News and Events
    • TRACIT Talking Points
    • Publications
    • Videos
  • Contact
Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade
  • Home
  • About
    • Our team
    • Our members companies
    • Our corporate Alliance Partners
    • Our affiliations
    • Join
    • FAQs
  • Work Program
    • Support SHOP SAFE Act
    • Covid-19
    • Supply chain survey
    • Featured Report: The Human Cost of Illicit Trade
    • Featured Report: Fraudulent Advertising Online
    • Featured project: Global Illicit Trade Index
    • Featured Report: Illicit Trade and the UNSDGs
    • Featured Report: The Link Between Illicit Trade and Sovereign Credit Ratings
  • Sectors
    • Agri-food industry
    • Alcohol
    • Counterfeiting & Piracy
    • Cultural Property
    • Fisheries
    • Forced labor
    • Forestry
    • Pesticides
    • Petroleum
    • Pharmaceuticals
    • Precious metals and gemstones
    • Tobacco
    • Wildlife
  • Resources
    • News and Events
    • TRACIT Talking Points
    • Publications
    • Videos
  • Contact

Illicit Trade in Pharmaceuticals

Picture
Illicit trade in counterfeit pharmaceuticals is a US$ 200 billion per year industry (Irish, 2010) that not only has a direct negative impact on consumer health and safety, but also results in increased government health care costs as well as costs associated with regulation and enforcement. For the pharmaceutical industry, the illicit trade in counterfeit medicines results in lost sales and revenues, liability and reputational damage, and costs associated with the need to ramp up security and adopt new ways to track and trace their legitimate products. The World Health Organization estimates that the share of counterfeit medicines on the market range from less than 1% of total sales in developed countries to over 10% of total sales in developing countries (WHO, 2006). There is also evidence of a shift among organized crime groups from smuggling narcotics and weapons to counterfeiting medicines, possibly even with terrorist organizations (UNODC, 2009).
​
In addition to counterfeit pharmaceuticals, the trade in substandard drugs, which contain too much or too little of the active ingredient, may be contaminated, may be poorly packaged or fail to meet quality standards in other ways, with potentially severe consequences (WHO, 2005), is a major concern. The use of substandard drugs not only prevents treatment, it can also promote the development of drug resistant strains, in turn decreasing the effectiveness of legitimate medicines, raising costs for patients and healthcare systems, and causing reputational damage to business.

Picture
"Counterfeit medicines are just one example of how we simply will not achieve the SDGs without looking after our consumers”

UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi
Featured report

Mapping the Impact of Illicit Trade on the Sustainable Development Goals

The TRACIT report Mapping the Impact of Illicit Trade on the Sustainable Development Goals investigates illicit trade in 12 key sectors that participate significantly in international trade and are most vulnerable to illicit trade. For each sector, the negative impacts of illicit trade are mapped against the 17 UN SDGs. The full report is available here.

Read the chapter: 
SDGs and illicit trade in pharmaceuticals
Picture
Videos

WARNING: FAKE, FALSIFIED AND SUBSTANDARD MEDICAL PRODUCTS AND MEDICINES

Picture
TRACIT has issued a statement warning consumers about the risks and growing availability of fake, falsified and substandard medical and healthcare products and medicines in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. TRACIT reports a surge in ineffective, fraudulent products that undermine public health and efforts to stem the pandemic. More...
Picture
Learn how illicit pharmaceuticals undermine the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Picture
From  smuggling, counterfeiting and tax evasion, to the illegal sale or possession of goods, services, humans and wildlife, illicit trade is compromising the attainment of the UN SDGs in significant ways, crowding out legitimate economic activity, depriving governments of revenues for investment in vital public services, dislocating millions of legitimate jobs and causing irreversible damage to ecosystems and human lives. 

The TRACIT report Mapping the Impact of Illicit Trade on the Sustainable Development Goals investigates illicit trade in 12 key sectors that participate significantly in international trade and are most vulnerable to illicit trade. For each sector, the negative impacts of illicit trade are mapped against the 17 UN SDGs. ​The full report is available here.

Read the chapter: SDGs and illicit trade in pharmaceuticals


Picture
Key facts
Substandard and falsified medical products
– Substandard and falsified medical products may cause harm to patients and fail to treat the diseases for which they were intended.
– They lead to loss of confidence in medicines, healthcare providers and health systems.
– Substandard and falsified medical products from all main therapeutic categories have been reported to WHO including medicines, vaccines and in vitro diagnostics.
– Anti-malarials and antibiotics are amongst the most commonly reported substandard and falsified medical products.
– Both generic and innovator medicines can be falsified, ranging from very expensive products for cancer to very inexpensive products for treatment of pain.
– They can be found in illegal street markets, via unregulated websites through to pharmacies, clinics and hospitals.
– An estimated 1 in 10 medical products in low- and middle-income countries is substandard or falsified.
– Substandard and falsified medical products contribute to antimicrobial resistance and drug-resistant infections.
​

Source: World Health Organization
About
Work Program
Contact
Terms of Use
Join Us

Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT) is an independent, non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation under US tax code 501(c)(6).
​
© COPYRIGHT 2022. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Follow us
  • Home
  • About
    • Our team
    • Our members companies
    • Our corporate Alliance Partners
    • Our affiliations
    • Join
    • FAQs
  • Work Program
    • Support SHOP SAFE Act
    • Covid-19
    • Supply chain survey
    • Featured Report: The Human Cost of Illicit Trade
    • Featured Report: Fraudulent Advertising Online
    • Featured project: Global Illicit Trade Index
    • Featured Report: Illicit Trade and the UNSDGs
    • Featured Report: The Link Between Illicit Trade and Sovereign Credit Ratings
  • Sectors
    • Agri-food industry
    • Alcohol
    • Counterfeiting & Piracy
    • Cultural Property
    • Fisheries
    • Forced labor
    • Forestry
    • Pesticides
    • Petroleum
    • Pharmaceuticals
    • Precious metals and gemstones
    • Tobacco
    • Wildlife
  • Resources
    • News and Events
    • TRACIT Talking Points
    • Publications
    • Videos
  • Contact