Falsified medicines: Past, present and future
Conference Series LLC Joint International Event on 7th Pharmacovigilance & Pharmaceutical Industry
August 22-24, 2016 Vienna, Austria

Julia Lain-Abril

San Pablo University, Spain

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Pharmacovigil

Abstract:

Counterfeit drugs are a worldwide issue and its impact on public health is very well documented, being responsible for not only resistance to medicines but also patient deaths. Regulatory authorities are responsible for ensuring patients�?? safety through the establishment of regulations that protect the four basic bioethical principles (autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice) and fighting against the counterfeit market. It is a fact that internet has increased the breaches in the supply chains of highly regulated markets through online pharmacies that may be illicit or poorly regulated. The WHO states that medicines obtained from illegal Internet sites that hide their physical address are counterfeit in over 50% of the cases. After studying the measures taken by regulatory authorities to ensure the safety of medicines and carefully analysing the current bioethical situation of the online market, it has been observed that internet does not have an ethical code and most anti-counterfeit actions taken are focused on increasing the awareness of the consumer, reassuring the principle of autonomy. However, there are no actions detected to protect the principles of beneficence, non-maleficence and justice. It is suggested that further online anti-counterfeit measures focus on avoiding the reach of counterfeits to the online market instead of solely warning the consumers to prevent the purchase. For this, it will be necessary the collaboration of different parties -regulatory authorities, pharmaceutical companies, healthcare professionals, patients, government, police and customs - as well as a stronger will to promote an ethical online behaviour.

Biography :

Julia Laín-Abril is a PharmD student graduated from CEU San Pablo University in Spain, and is a Post-graduate alumna from University College London, obtaining distinction in the MSc in Drug Discovery and Pharma Management at the School of Pharmacy. She is also trained in Clinical Trials Management and Regulatory Compliance at University of Chicago. She has participated in the X National Undergraduate Congress in Health Sciences in Spain to present her work on “Current status of the ethical codes in the official schools of pharmacists of Spain”. Today she works as a Product Stewardship and Regulatory Affairs Scientist in London.

Email: julia.abril.14@alumni.ucl.ac.uk