Medicines Of The Second Freshness

2023 Author: Abraham Higgins | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 23:16

Medicines of the second freshness

Expensive cancer drugs in Russia are the leading counterfeit drugs. The drugs are repackaged, re-sold and even made in artisanal conditions. Criminal schemes are typical for the entire country, and a solution to the problem must be sought at the level of federal legislation, experts say.

Photo: pxhere.com /

The problem of illegal circulation of counterfeit anticancer drugs was discussed at a round table held at the ONF site. Representatives of the Sverdlovsk Region shared their experience of fighting the “gray” drug market. As the head of the department for supervision over the execution of federal legislation of the Prosecutor's Office of the Sverdlovsk region Andrei Kuryakov said, expensive medicines with an expiration date were written off from medical institutions and, through a chain of transactions, ended up in a company that, having changed the dates of production of drugs, sold them at a halved price in various clinics.

At the same time, the storage conditions for drugs were often not respected. In addition, the turnover of such drugs brings losses to the state, since the medical institution is forced to purchase drugs again, said Vladimir Elishev, chief physician of the Sverdlovsk Regional Oncological Dispensary. In order to stop the flow of counterfeit products, a whole program has been developed in the region. They also changed the legal acts regulating the procurement sector. Suppliers were required to provide information about drugs (series and number of packages, data of the person who will supply this drug to a medical facility, etc.), manufacturer's guarantees.

Counterfeit cancer drugs come to the attention of Roszdravnadzor specialists with alarming regularity. So, half a year ago, an entrepreneur was brought to criminal responsibility for supplying the falsified Herceptin to the Belgorod Regional Oncology Center. The authenticity of 37 packages of the drug delivered to the institution under a state contract raised doubts among the specialists of the territorial administration of Roszdravnadzor, who came to the oncological dispensary during a routine check.

The suspicions were confirmed by an examination of the quality of the drug, carried out in a certified laboratory of Roszdravnadzor - the fraudsters independently repackaged the original drug they had in fake secondary packages, which indicated false information about its manufacture. Roszdravnadzor clarified that it is a question of "secondary dumping of drugs on the market." This is possible if government agencies write off drugs to patients who do not actually receive them. The drugs are then sold to dealers.

The participants in the meeting noted the typical nature of the criminal scheme and proposed to extend the Sverdlovsk practice of preventing counterfeiting throughout the country. And also - to give Roszdravnadzor the right to suspend the license for the circulation of medicines and the right to refuse to issue licenses to companies whose managers previously participated in the circulation of counterfeit medicines. According to experts, it is also necessary to provide for a condition on the manufacturer's guarantee in a standard contract approved by a departmental normative legal act.

Director General of the National Medical Research Center for Radiology, President of the Society of Oncologists of Russia Andrei Kaprin drew attention to the lack of a well-functioning control and information system in Russia. “It is very important to track the entire route of medicines - from crossing the border to admission to clinics. In addition, subsidies are needed for the purchase of special equipment, with the help of which the chief doctors of oncological dispensaries will be able to selectively check the quality of the drug on the spot,”Kaprin said.