As consumers everywhere look to scale back their discretionary spending, many people are cutting corners in what could turn out to be the worst possible place - their drugs - and falling prey to a dangerous new breed of pharmaceutical counterfeiters. Thanks to a spiraling economy and the loss of health insurance that typically accompanies job loss (not to mention huge profits for perpetrators) the global market for knock-off drugs is expected to reach a staggering $75 billion next year, according to a recent report by The Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. The World Health Organization estimates that 10% of the global pharmaceutical supply is counterfeit, and the number is accelerating, especially in developing nations.
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Source: Fortune
Feb 22, 2009, 04:32 AM
