Le Plus Ca Change...

...Le plus c'est la meme chose.  Today is the last day of the Florida anti-counterfeiting conference.  It has been well organised and attended by a good mix of interesting and senior people with a lot to say about counterfeit medicines. There have been new developments in tactical approaches to anti-counterfeiting which will make a difference in the detection of fake drugs. But, strategically-speaking, I feel as if I've seen this deja vu somewhere before.  In recent years things have not moved on at the pace that the increasing risk to patient safety warrants.

There are some noble exceptions.  Nigeria, for example, is doing great work.  Dr Paul Orhii, Director General of their drug regulator NAFDAC , gave a good insight into how his country is tackling the counterfeit threat using hand-held devices to differentiate real from fake drugs in the field.

The real quantum leap in approach will only come when a global, or at least multi-regional, approach is decided upon, authorised, funded and rolled out.  At the moment we are still in the realm of individual, relatively small pilot studies which show the potential of Technology X in a controlled environment.  We need to take a deep breath and implement a drug verification system on a wide scale, exposing it to the real world threats of criminal attack and realising that it may not be perfect first time.  Only by road-testing and refining such systems can we start to make a real difference.  The current drug traceability projects, though laudable, are the equivalent of learning to drive on a private road.  We know how to work the car, but we need to get used to traffic on the highway before we can go very far.