Recognize fake pills. How to distinguish counterfeit medicines. Types of counterfeit medicines

Counterfeit drugs, at best, simply will not bring any benefit; at worst, they can cause irreparable harm to health, even death. Medicines in pharmacies are checked for quality by the relevant regulatory authorities, but they are only able to cover about 20% of medicines. We will tell you in our article how to buy medicine at a pharmacy without counterfeiting.

Types of counterfeit medicines

There are 4 main types of counterfeit drugs in our pharmacies:

“Dummy” - drugs that do not contain the substances specified in the instructions. Usually chalk, flour, starch, and sugar are used instead. In principle, pacifiers are safe, but only until recovery depends on their use;

medicines in which more expensive and effective ingredients are replaced with less effective cheap analogues. The result from using such drugs is several times lower than expected;

with a reduced dosage of active ingredients. The positive effect of their use is negligible;

manufactured in violation of technology. The composition and dosage of such medicines are kept within normal limits, but the quality is quite poor due to non-compliance with the production regime. Such medications may have a shorter shelf life than indicated on the package or may have a weak effect.

Another case of “wrong” drugs that cannot be classified as counterfeit, but from which people suffer, is drug substitution. For example, instead of pills that lower blood pressure, the blister may contain pills that increase it.

For more information about counterfeit medicines, watch the video:

What drugs are counterfeited most often?

In most cases, drugs are counterfeited:

whose cost is in the price range from $4 to $35. There is no point in making very cheap ones, since their production simply may not pay off, and producing counterfeits of expensive drugs is unprofitable, since consumer demand for them is low;

actively advertised. Advertising stimulates demand and guarantees high levels of sales and profits.

In most cases, the following are fake medicines in pharmacies:

Methods for identifying counterfeit drugs

Alas, there is no method that would allow us to select original pharmaceutical products and weed out counterfeit products with 100% probability. However, there are a number of rules that, if followed, will significantly reduce the chances of buying counterfeit medicines in pharmacies.

According to the law, in Ukraine and the Russian Federation, medications cannot be returned. However, you can return a low-quality medicine, but you will have to provide an expert opinion proving that you were sold a counterfeit drug. In Ukraine, laboratory tests will have to be done at your own expense, but in Russia such a service is provided only to legal entities. So it is unlikely that you will be able to defend your right. Therefore, it is better to try to prevent this by checking medications in pharmacies before purchasing.

The first counterfeit detected on the Russian pharmaceutical market was the blood substitute reopoliglucin produced by the Krasnoyarsk Pharmaceutical Plant. This happened in 1997. Since then, the number of counterfeit drugs has increased many times and now numbers in the hundreds. According to a recent statement by Russian Deputy Minister of Health Anton Katlinsky, every thirtieth medicine sold in our pharmacies is counterfeit. But these are official data. According to unofficial estimates, up to 30% of all pharmaceutical products are falsified.

Both expensive and cheap drugs are counterfeited. Most often these are well-known medications with pronounced medicinal properties. The largest number of counterfeits are found among antibiotics, which is especially dangerous. After all, such drugs are taken for serious illnesses, often when there is a real threat to the patient’s life.

67% of counterfeits are products of the domestic pharmaceutical industry, 31% are foreign-made, 2% come to us from the CIS countries. Among Russian manufacturers, Bryntsalov was particularly noted for counterfeiting drugs. Anton Katlinsky reported at a press conference that the drugs Rulid and Nootropil were falsified at the enterprises of the largest domestic pharmaceutical magnate. By the way, this is not the first accusation against Bryntsalov. Since 1998, the Danish company Novo Nordisk has been trying to get its enterprises to stop producing and selling insulin that does not meet the quality standards of this company under the Novo Nordisk brand. In Volgograd, more than 1,000 diabetic patients were hospitalized due to complications that developed due to the use of counterfeit insulin.

The largest suppliers of imported counterfeits are China, India, Pakistan, Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Latvia.

There are four main methods of counterfeiting medicines.

"Dummy drugs." Most often they contain no medicinal base at all. By the way, this does not mean that they do not cure. It has been proven that for some people, placebos - this is what doctors call “dummy drugs” - act no worse than real medicines. Theoretically, their use is harmless. Although, if during a heart attack you take a “pacifier” instead of, for example, nitroglycerin, everything can end in disaster. The most famous example of a “dummy drug” is associated with the antibiotic sumamed from the Croatian company Pliva. Several years ago, this company began exporting medicine to Russia. After some time, doctors began to complain that it did not give the expected effect. Representatives of Pliva bought their medicine from several pharmacies and sent it to Zagreb to the laboratory. The test showed that the capsules did not contain the active substance.

"Drugs-imitators." The active ingredient in them is usually replaced with a cheaper and less effective one. This is the most dangerous counterfeit: there is no guarantee that the replacement will not be deadly in your case. Example? Please. The shampoo called Nisaril is a double of the famous Nizoral from the Belgian pharmaceutical company Janssen Pharmaceutica, but produced in Belarus by a certain Minsk PC LLC Belkosmex. Not only the name and purpose are similar, but also the labels - a rhombus with droplets in the center, as well as a four-color background, from white to brown.

"Altered Medicines." They contain the same medicinal substance as the original, but in larger or smaller quantities. This is also dangerous. You are not guaranteed either a therapeutic effect or the absence of side effects.

A similar fake was discovered not long ago in St. Petersburg. One entrepreneur organized a clandestine production of the antiseptic chlorhexidine in his warehouse. There was a medicinal base in it, but only in much greater quantities than necessary. But chlorhexidine is a very strong antiseptic. An overdose can have serious consequences.

“Copy medicines.” The most common type of counterfeit in Russia. They contain the same substances as the original, and in the same quantities. However, where and from whom the unknown manufacturer bought the substance for production is unknown. Although seemingly innocent, this type of counterfeit is more dangerous than a “dummy”. There is no quality control guarantee. In other words, when buying such a counterfeit, you are relying on the conscience of an underground pharmacist.

Why do they fake it?.

There are many reasons. But perhaps the most important thing is that counterfeiting drugs is a very profitable business. According to experts, in terms of profitability it ranks third after the sale of drugs and weapons.

The second reason is due to the fact that our legislation, in fact, does not provide for criminal liability for counterfeiting medicines. There is not even the term “falsified medicines” in the Federal Law. True, everything may change soon. A bill is already being prepared according to which for counterfeiting medicines they will be sentenced to up to 8 years in prison, as is done, for example, in Germany.

Drug counterfeiters benefit from different price levels for the same drugs. But that's not even the main problem. There is such a thing as “synonymous drugs”. These are the same drugs, but with different names. For example, synonymous drugs are acyclovir, herperax and zovirax or nosh-pa, drotaverine and spasmol. So their prices can vary hundreds of times!

And finally, intermediaries. We have much more of them than, say, in Western European countries. There are 2,500 distributors involved in the purchase and distribution of medicines in Russia, 10 in Germany, and only 4 in France.

How to spot a fake.

Good fakes are no different from genuine drugs either in packaging or in appearance. The barcode, series and release date, and hologram on the packaging inspire complete consumer confidence. But, nevertheless, in front of you there may be a real fake. It can only be distinguished using chemical-pharmaceutical analysis. For this purpose, more than 80 specialized laboratories operate in 69 regions of Russia.

But still, most fakes are not made at such a high level, and an ordinary buyer can distinguish them. It is enough to carefully consider the medicine offered to you and the accompanying documents. It happens that they are made carelessly. Poor printing design, unclear engraving of the logo, a rough package instead of a glossy one, instructions with errors, lack of expiration date indication, barcode that does not correspond to the country of origin indicated on the package.

One more rule. Despite the fact that the amplitude of price fluctuations in the domestic market reaches an impressive scale, it also has a limitation. The market cannot afford to halve the price. So, if you are offered a very cheap drug, you should not rejoice, but pass by. Never buy medicines on the street. The best chance of buying a fake is at pharmacy kiosks.

So, “saving drowning people is the work of the drowning people themselves”:

1. Never buy drugs directly or from friends.

2. Do not buy drugs that are not prescribed to you by a doctor you trust.

3. Buy medications in those pharmacies where you always buy them (the longer you have not been deceived, the less likely it is that you will be deceived). You have the right to ask the pharmacy employee to present a certificate of conformity, which indicates the trade and international name of the drug, the company and country of origin, and contains other information, in particular, that the batch to which the drug belongs has passed the appropriate control (quality inspection certificate, manufacturer’s quality certificate or analysis protocol, name of the organization that conducted the study and issued the document).

4. Ask your doctor to show you what the primary and secondary packaging of the prescribed medication looks like, as well as the dosage form - tablets, capsules and other forms. The manufacturer tries to apply distinctive features (holograms, inscriptions on tablets, etc.) to the packaging and dosage form, which complicate or eliminate the possibility of counterfeiting. In “RLS - Encyclopedia of Medicines” there is a section “Medicine Identifier”, containing high-quality photographs of dosage forms and packaging of drugs that have a risk of counterfeiting.

5. If the drug has not been prescribed to you before, refer to the RLS reference system for information about it. These directories are accessible, and in them you can always find information about all medicines registered in Russia. Involve a specialist (doctor or pharmacist) in the search, start the search on the website www.rlsnet.ru.

6. Counterfeiters know that people do not always carefully study the packaging, and therefore sometimes do not attach importance to its careful execution. When buying a medicine, do not be lazy, if necessary, put on glasses (after all, we are talking about your health) and make sure that the name of the drug and the active substance exactly correspond to the medicine prescribed by the doctor.

By following these rules, you will reduce the risk of purchasing a counterfeit to almost zero.

There are five rules that certainly do not make the risk zero, but can significantly reduce it.

First rule- “It’s worth looking at the price.”

If drugs cost up to 250.00 rubles or over 2,000.00 rubles, then such drugs are counterfeited much less frequently, in the first case due to the fact that the level of costs associated with the cost of setting up the production of drugs does not allow for the expected profit, in the second because expensive drugs are rarely bought.

According to statistics, most of the market for counterfeit drugs is in the price range from 500.00 to 1,500.00 rubles, and this is perhaps the most capacious niche in which drugs are purchased quite often.

Second rule– “Study the packaging and instructions.”

And if manufacturers of counterfeit drugs still try not to skimp on packaging so that the packaging looks as close as possible to the original, then, as a rule, fraudsters pay less attention to the quality of execution of instructions for counterfeit drugs, primarily due to the fact that buyers rarely use it get acquainted and study her. But many manufacturers, specifically in order to somehow protect themselves from counterfeits, try not to skimp on the quality of execution of not only the packaging, but also the instructions of the drugs. Therefore, the instructions of the originals, unlike their fakes, as a rule, do not have blurry, hand-made execution on a household printer, but clearly printed and easily legible typographic text. Plus, original manufacturers try to write the instruction text in a color other than black, again, to somewhat reduce the likelihood of counterfeiting. That is, at least in terms of color and print clarity, you can immediately detect the difference.

Third rule- “Ask for a certificate.”

You can ask the pharmacy for a certificate of conformity. This document must be provided upon the first request of buyers. If, for example, you applied not to the main pharmacy, but to a pharmacy point, and at the moment the required certificate is not available in this pharmacy, then again, at your request, to any pharmacy point, no matter where it is located, from the central office of the pharmacy chain a certificate must bring or fax a copy of the certificate.

Fourth rule- “Call the manufacturer.”

If you carefully study the instructions for the drug, you can easily find the manufacturer’s details, including the telephone number of the so-called “hotline”. Usually, calls to the hotline are free, and telephone numbers begin with “800”, by calling which you can, in particular, clarify whether the drug you are interested in is supplied to a given pharmacy or a given pharmacy chain.

If the manufacturer’s phone number is not included in the instructions, then the product is counterfeit and the drug itself is most likely also of dubious origin. The manufacturer is simply obliged to indicate his details, which should include a telephone number where you can obtain any information of interest on the drug described in the instructions.

Fifth rule– “Choose your pharmacy carefully.”

As a rule, large pharmacy chains or state-owned pharmacies have more stringent requirements; moreover, they work more closely with drug manufacturers, and they monitor quite jealously to ensure that there are as few counterfeits as possible. In small pharmacy kiosks located in some underground passages, shops, etc. The risk of running into a fake is much higher.

The pharmaceutical market is, first of all, sales. But here we have a specific product – medicines, which are extremely important for maintaining health and even preserving life. Their cost can reach tens of thousands of rubles or more, so counterfeiting medicines is an extremely profitable, but illegal, activity. It is worth noting that thanks to the coordinated work of various government agencies, counterfeit medicines are becoming less and less every year. However, they have not yet completely left the domestic market and continue to be found in pharmacies throughout Russia. Therefore, it is extremely important to know how to independently check the authenticity of a medicine and where to go if a counterfeit is detected.

Manufacturing counterfeit medicines is a double crime. It is clear that the goal of scammers is to illegally obtain quick and large profits. But at the same time, they endanger the health of thousands of people who expect a good therapeutic effect from the medicine. But it does not heal (this is at best). It turns out that a person is throwing away considerable sums of money, but his health is not improving at all.

More often than others, falsifications of antibacterial drugs, hormonal agents, painkillers, and medicines for the stomach and intestines are detected. Previously, cases of counterfeiting of drugs produced by the pharmaceutical companies Aventis, Biosintez, Biokhimik, Doctor Reddis, ICN Tomsk Chemical Plant, KRKA, Novartis, Moskhimfarmpreparaty, Pliva, "Farmadon", "Ebewe", "Egis", "Jansen" and others.

The path of a medicine to our medicine cabinet begins from the place of its production - a pharmaceutical plant or factory. Here not only drugs are produced and packaged, but also production control of the finished drug on the stability of the dosage form, the concentration of the active substance, etc. Only after internal control are drugs shipped in batches to large and small suppliers.

The latter not only accept thousands of packages of medications and dietary supplements, but are also required to receive accompanying documentation for the medications - Declaration of Conformity. Only after this can suppliers send drugs to pharmacies and pharmacy points, which sell the drugs to the final consumer - the patient. If necessary, employees Roszdravnadzor(Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare) can check the quality of drugs at any stage of their delivery to the patient.

As we see, at every stage from the manufacturer to the patient, drugs undergo internal and external quality control. However, this does not prevent attackers from continuing to counterfeit medicines.

The government is working on the issue of special labeling of drugs (like alcohol or fur coats), with the help of which the authenticity of a drug can be determined in just a couple of minutes. You just need to scan the special sticker code on the packaging with your smartphone and you will immediately understand whether the medicine in front of you is real or counterfeit. Now in some regions of Russia, such marking has already been launched as a pilot test project. What will happen next - time will tell. However, it should be clearly understood that additional methods of protection in the form of such labeling will certainly lead to an increase in the price of medicines (according to legislators, on average by only 1-1.5 rubles). On the other hand, patients will receive only high-quality and effective drugs.

Typically, the patient begins to think about the originality of the drug only when there is no proper therapeutic effect or when uncharacteristic adverse reactions occur. However, the therapeutic effect of the drug and the occurrence of side effects can also be affected by:

Incorrect diagnosis and incorrectly prescribed treatment.
Violations of the rules for storing and transporting the drug.
Failure to comply with the recommended method of use and therapeutic dosage of the drug.

If we omit all these points, then after ineffective treatment, suspicions about a counterfeit medicine are quite natural. So How to identify counterfeit medications?

Before or immediately after purchase, carefully look at the packaging of the drug, evaluate its integrity and quality. Look closely at the font of all letters and check the words for errors. You won’t believe it, but attackers quite often make spelling mistakes in the instructions for use and even on the packaging of the drug!
If you suspect a counterfeit, you have every right to familiarize yourself with the documentation confirming the quality of the drug - the delivery note from the supplier and the Declaration of Conformity for this batch. Pharmacy organizations must keep an invoice, and the Declaration is sent by the supplier after a corresponding request. Based on the submitted documents, you will be able to assess the originality of the drug.
If you have any doubts, you should contact the manufacturer of the drug or the person responsible for receiving claims. Manufacturers always indicate their contact information at the end of the instructions and sometimes on the packaging of the medicine. The manufacturer, more than anyone else, is interested in ensuring that patients receive high-quality treatment with real medicine.

Check medicine online

You can check the authenticity of the medicine using the barcode. To do this, look at the first 2-3 digits of the code and make sure that the country of origin matches the information on the packaging. It is important to note that such a check does not guarantee the authenticity of the drug, since fraudsters can indicate the barcode of the original drug. However, such a check will not be superfluous.

Barcode codes for different countries

The second step is checking the authenticity of the medicine by serial number. To do this, you need to go to the Register of Medicines Withdrawn from Circulation, which is maintained by Roszdravnadzor on the basis of daily inspection of certain batches of drugs.

To perform a search, click on the button "Advanced Search", fill in the fields TN(trade name) and Series. This will be enough for the system to operate correctly. Next, click the button "Show results". As a result, we can get one of two results:

“No data available” means that there are no restrictions on this drug or this series of the drug. Roszdravnadzor did not find any violations in the medicine.
A list appears with the name of the drug - carefully read the attached information letter, check the series again. If you have a drug in your hands, the circulation of which must be stopped, then you must stop taking it.

Perhaps these are all the measures that the average person can take to check the quality of drugs. Next, professionals must step in. A more detailed analysis of drugs is carried out by Roszdravnadzor based on laboratory and visual studies of a batch of drugs. Based on the results of such a check, certain drug names may be recalled.

What to do if a fake is detected?

If a low-quality medicinal product is detected, you should:

Contact the pharmacy with the receipt and the drug package itself for a refund. We recommend that you take with you the information letter about the recall of this series of medicines, which Roszdravnadzor posts on its website.
If there is no such letter yet, and the drug is clearly counterfeit, then you need to contact expert services - the Ministry of Health of the region and Roszdravnadzor, which initiate an inspection on suspicion of a counterfeit drug. Upon completion, the executive authorities will notify the applicant about the results of the inspection and the measures taken.

How to avoid buying counterfeit medicine?

Everyone has their own methods of checking a medicine for originality...

Overall, be careful. Carefully study the packaging and instructions for use of the drug for errors, uncharacteristic defects, and inaccuracies. Check medications yourself, and if necessary, contact specialists. We hope that soon, thanks to the work of legislators, health officials and the responsibility of the population, counterfeit drugs will completely disappear from the pharmaceutical market.

1. WHAT IS FAKE

The largest suppliers of imported counterfeits are China, India, Pakistan, Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Latvia.

2. HOW TO FAKE

There are four main methods of counterfeiting medicines.

"Dummy drugs." Most often they contain no medicinal base at all. By the way, this does not mean that they do not cure. It has been proven that for some people, placebos—that’s what doctors call “dummy drugs”—act no worse than real medications. Theoretically, their use is harmless. Although, if during a heart attack you take a “pacifier” instead of, for example, nitroglycerin, everything can end in disaster. The most famous example of a “dummy drug” is associated with the antibiotic sumamed from the Croatian company Pliva. Several years ago, this company began exporting medicine to Russia. After some time, doctors began to complain that it did not give the expected effect. Representatives of Pliva bought their medicine from several pharmacies and sent it to Zagreb to the laboratory. The test showed that the capsules did not contain the active substance.

"Copy medicines." The most common type of counterfeit in Russia. They contain the same substances as the original, and in the same quantities. However, where and from whom the unknown manufacturer bought the substance for production is unknown. Although seemingly innocent, this type of counterfeit is more dangerous than a “dummy”. There is no quality control guarantee. In other words, when buying such a counterfeit, you are relying on the conscience of an underground pharmacist.

WHY THEY FAKE

HOW TO RECOGNIZE A FAKE

If the drug has not been prescribed to you before, refer to the RLS reference system for information about it. In “RLS - Encyclopedia of Medicines” there is a section “Medicine Identifier”, containing high-quality photographs of dosage forms and packaging of drugs that have a risk of counterfeiting. These directories are accessible, and in them you can always find information about all medicines registered in Russia. Involve a specialist (doctor or pharmacist) in your search, start your search on the website