Vetting Threats To Safe Drug Supplies

A committee assembled by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies to study the global public health implications of substandard, falsified, and counterfeit drugs held a preliminary forum on the topic in Washington, D.C., last month. Representatives from government, drug companies, and national and international law enforcement agencies struggled to characterize what all agree is a large, growing, and frustratingly nebulous threat to public health and safety. The committee is preparing a study, commissioned by the Food & Drug Administration and due in early 2013, to help develop ways to assess risks posed by breaches in the global drug supply chain. Invited speakers discussed detection technologies as well as appropriate venues for collaboration among regulators, drugmakers, and government authorities. They also labored to clarify the distinction among substandard, falsified, and counterfeit medicines and debated how important the differences really are. Participants in the day-and-a-half-long f...