PSGH Rolls Out Measures To Check Fake Drugs

Date published: August 25, 2014

By Mohammed Awal (awalm19@gmail.com)

Due to the influx of fake drugs into the West African pharmaceutical market lately, the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGH) has rolled out an initiative called the ‘PREVENT’ initiative to fight the menace.

According to the UN office on Drug and Crimes (UNODC), West Africa is increasingly becoming the target of a range of counterfeit drugs; such as antibiotics, anti-malaria, anti-retroviral and anti-tuberculosis medicines.  Thousands of lives are perished as a result of the intake of these counterfeited drugs by unsuspecting consumers.

  Speaking at the ‘PREVENT’ initiative launch in Accra last week, Thursday, the president of the PSGH, Pharm. James Ohemeng Kyei said that the PSGH was worried by reports that suggested that fake drugs were being sold and distributed in Ghana and the entire Western African region, thus the introduction of the initiative.

Fighting the scourge
To tackle the scourge of fake drugs in Ghana, the PSGH engaged two technological partners, mPedigree and popOut to implement a system of anti-counterfeiting called ‘PREVENT’ to fight the menace. As a result of the partnership with mPedigree, drugs made and marketed by members of the PSGH had been coded with unique ID’s covered by scratch off ink and tracked at individual pack level with ‘Goldkeys’ technology.

With these features Pharm. Ohemeng-Kyei noted, patients could verify the veracity of the drug they had purchased at the point of sale or dispensing, by scratching to reveal the hidden digits and text  the revealed digits to  short-code 1393 to confirm if the drugs they had bought were valid or otherwise. “The text message is free,” he assured, adding that the power of detecting fake drugs was now in the hands of patients and consumers and would contribute to the quality assurance process for drugs nationwide.

“It is the expectation of the PSGH and its partners that over the next 3 years, millions of Ghanaians will be able to improve their confidence in the quality of medicines sold in Ghana, and consequently the commitment of the pharmacy profession to total patient safety and medical quality,” he further remarked.

In a statement read on his behalf by the Head of Drug Enforcement Department of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Thomas Amedzro, the CEO of the FDA, Pharm. Hudu Moqtari said the initiative would help the FDA “rid our country of counterfeit medicines and by so doing strengthen the manufacturing and supply chain system for medicines produced or imported into the country.”

Fake drugs, he noted, had over the years exposed patients or consumers to various degrees of dangers and that as an Authority they were happy to see the PSGH join the fight against importation of fake drugs into the country. “Such a bold and proactive move is most necessary to ensure we win this battle against illegal operators who will jeopardize human safety for profit motives, and build a system that will be worthy of emulation by other countries,” stated Pharm. Moqtari. The acronym ‘PREVENT’ means ‘Patient, Research, Empowerment, Vigilance and Education through New Technologies.’

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