Counterfeiting of Medicines

UNICRI researches and writes on specific counterfeit product categories, focusing on the impact on consumers’ health and safety and on organized crime involvement. Counterfeit medicines are among the counterfeit products with the greatest potential for harming the health of consumers. As for many other criminal activities, also in the case of counterfeit medicines reliable estimates are extremely hard to be obtained. Nonetheless, according to the WHO counterfeit medicines represent approximately 10 per cent of the entire amount of medicines worldwide. Strong evidence suggests that organized crime is increasingly involved in counterfeiting and counterfeit medicines are by no means an exception.