The Environment

Patient safety remains a key priority for the pharmaceutical market, but in meeting this goal the industry, professional associations, and federal agencies remain under constant scrutiny with increasing interest from the media and the public in the way it operates. Ultimately, to address the issue of patient safety, the industry must work together to improve its public image whilst overcoming many market challenges.
And those challenges are vast, firstly there is a regulatory environment which continues to change and evolve which puts immense pressure on the industry to comply quickly to ensure the safety of the products dispensed. A further problem is arming patients with the right information to ensure that they take the medicines correctly. For the patient there are so many things to remember when it comes to taking medication, so much so according to Forrester Research, unfilled prescriptions and prescription non compliance is responsible for a staggering $100 billion annually in preventable services and lost productivity.

There are also more serious concerns over counterfeit and recalled drugs which is growing on a global scale. This is extremely worrying as most counterfeits provide little or no therapeutic value, and many cause outright harm to patients. Analysts report the total sales of counterfeit prescription medicines will reach $75 billion by the end of the decade. In some countries by 2010, almost 50 per cent of the drug supply could be made up of counterfeit drugs.

Statistics released in May 2007 from the European Commission (DG TAXUD) confirmed that 2.7 million counterfeit medicines had been seized at the EU's borders in 2006 - this was a massive 380 per cent increase on the products seized in 2005.[1] It is also expected that with the recent EU enlargement and a new border with Russia and other Eastern European countries, the problem in Europe will continue to grow at this alarming rate.[2]

There has also been rapid growth of illegal online pharmacies that prescribe drugs without a prescription and have the potential to bypass traditional safeguards. According to the world health organisation 50% of medicines available from internet sites which conceal their physical address are counterfeit.

The number of pharmacy internet sites offering on line prescription drugs increased by 70% between 2006 and 2007. ((CASA) at Columbia University). ~30% of these pharmacies did not require a prescription to make the purchase.

The pharmaceutical supply chain is complex and provides numerous opportunities for the unscrupulous to interfere with drugs. In Europe today, with EU legislation that encourages the free movement of goods, and price differentials between countries, trading in pharmaceuticals is widespread and lucrative.

Patient safety must remain the ultimate goal. To this end there is much concern from both pharmacists and the patients they serve, towards the authenticity of drugs prescribed. Failure to meet this goal could for the pharmaceutical companies affect their share price and reputation, whilst for the pharmacist, their own brand and level of trust with the customer could be compromised.