PHILIPPINES CRACKDOWN ON COUNTERFEIT DRUG TRADE

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) is stepping up efforts to combat the counterfeit drug trade. Six suspects have recently been arrested, and pharmacies closed down in the province of Pangasinan.

Fake drugs are a serious problem in the Philippines, with Pangasinan a favourite "dumping ground" for illicit products. Recent data estimates that counterfeit drugs worth up to PHP8bn (US$140mn) enter the Philippines each year, resulting in substantial losses for local industry.

The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) ranked the country amongst its "priority watch" list of countries failing to implement adequate intellectual property controls in 2004. The most popular copy pharmaceuticals are antibiotics, anti-infectives and digestives, with the majority sourced from Thailand, India and China.

However, despite official claims that the authorities are doing all they can to halt the trade, two government departments have come under fierce criticism — the Bureau of Customs (BoC) and the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFDA). The BoC is blamed for lax enforcement, allowing firms to import counterfeits undetected. The BFDA is also notoriously slow in identifying local producers of counterfeit drugs. More encouragingly, however, the government has cancelled a plan to allow "parallel imports" of drugs from India and Pakistan.