INTERPOL - World Model United Nations

Simvastatin tablets ordered via the Internet. (A) is the genuine product while (B)-(E) were faked in Mexico. Spectroscopic images,
below, show the active ingredient as bright dots. (Science vol. 305)
represent criminal organizations that experience high
returns for relatively low risk when dealing in counterfeit
drugs. As Yury Fedotow, Executive Director of the United
Nations Oce on Drug and Crime (UNODC) explains:
“Fraudulent medicines oer organised criminal groups a
high-return commodity with relatively low risks, ultimately
at the expense of the health of unsuspecting people.” 88 is
asymmetric prot situation between wholesalers and sellers
is frequently channeled by law enforcement ocers (LEOs)
seeking to access information about organized criminals
through lower-level oenders. LEOs will occasionally oer
to lower or revise the sentences of sellers in exchange for
information leading to the arrest or capture of wholesalers
and traders responsible in large part for the counterfeit
pharmaceutical crisis.
CURRENT SITUATION – EXACERBATING FACTORS
In its 1999 Guidelines for the Development of Measures
to Combat Counterfeit Drugs, 89 WHO identied several
basic factors that exacerbate the manufacture and sale of
counterfeit drugs, especially in developing regions:
!" Lack of legislation regarding the regulation of
the pharmaceutical distribution system;
!" Weak or absent drug regulatory authority;
!" Absence of a legal mandate for licensing of
manufacture/import of drugs;
!" Lack of enforcement of existing regulations;
!" Transactions involving many intermediaries;
!" Demand for pharmaceuticals exceeding supply;
!" High prices of legitimate pharmaceuticals;
!" Sophistication of clandestine drug
manufacturing;
!" Inecient cooperation among stakeholders;
and
!" Lack of regulation by exporters and within free
trade zones.
Other unlisted factors that are extraneous to the healthcare
system include technological advances, economic
conditions, alternative medicine options (such as religious
healing rituals, etc.), culture (i.e., a proclivity to selfmedicate
rather than seek clinical treatment), and the
delineation between prescription and nonprescription
drugs. 90 Advanced technology, underdeveloped or unequal
economic conditions, a lack of alternative medicine
options, a culture of self-medication, and a lack of or
poorly enforced prescription medication system all lead to
an environment conducive to counterfeit pharmaceutical
proliferation. As Temple University pharmacoeconomist
Albert Wertheimer elaborates, “Drug counterfeiting is
a threat that every nation faces and the activity is very
dicult to identify, trace, and combat. e growth of online
drug sales, counterfeiters’ increasing technologic skill, and a
false sense of security in countries with stringent regulatory
measures are among the factors that are enabling the spread
of this criminal activity.” 91
For developing nations, the existence of pharmaceutical
patents protecting the intellectual property of drug
developers is the main driving force for the high reliance on
counterfeit drugs. According to Yashuhiro Suzuki of WHO,
“A deadly combination of demand for cheap drugs and fat
prot margins makes counterfeit drugs irresistibly attractive
to greedy criminals.” 92 Patent rights drive up the cost of
authentic medications, causing patients in developing
nations to turn increasingly to the illicit industry for the
products that have become prohibitively costly. is
view, held by prominent economist Noam Chomsky,
would suggest a solution of governments subsidizing
the pharmaceutical industry and imposing strict price
controls. It would also suggest the relaxing of patent laws
and standards to allow more generic drug production, as
Harvard WorldMUN 2012 INTERPOL 19