Warning about fake medicine and supplemental food

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	Removing problems for import and export businesses of medicines and medicinal ingredients
	Removing problems related to customs procedures for imports of medicine

Tens of thousands of medicines of unknown origin are seized by law enforcement. Illustrative photo.

Increasing production and trafficking of goods of unknown origin during Covid-19 pandemic

At the seminar “Fake medicine and supplemental food- the Current Status and Solutions” jointly held by the Vietnam Federation of Industry and Trade (VCCI) and Vietnam’s anti-counterfeiting technology center on September in HCM City, Deputy Director of the General Department of Market Surveillance Nguyen Duc Le said during the two years affected by Covid-19 pandemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the production and smuggling of goods of unknown origin has increased.

In addition, the production and trafficking of counterfeit goods and goods infringing intellectual property rights have occured in all fields and areas, including in the production, processing, circulation and import and export.

The fake items have been made on a large scale with sophisticated methods from abroad. When these products are transported to Vietnam, they are fake products. These acts greatly affect legitimate businesses and the interests of consumers, and the reputation of the Vietnamese economy, especially, affecting health and treatment and causing consequences for people and society.

Ms. Tran Hoang Kim Anh - the representative of PN'S CHOICE trade of Ngoc Linh V.N Ginseng Medicine-Pharmacy group Company Limited said that Ngoc Linh Ginseng is a rare ginseng type of Vietnam.

Due to the scarcity and economic profit of this ginseng, many suspects have made fake ginseng to gain illicit profits.

Currently, about 90% of Ngoc Linh Ginseng in the market is fake, affecting the company when customers are concerned about the quality of this product. Tam That tree has the same shape as Ngoc Linh Gingeng, which confuses many people. Even in Quang Nam, home to Ngoc Linh Ginseng, the product is also fake. The company has sought technology solutions to protect its brands.

Difficult to combat

Le Thi Thu Thuy, Deputy Director of VCCI’s Enterprise Development Institute, said that due to the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, the making of fake medicine and supplemental food has surged due to the disruption of supply chains and high demand for goods. These products are counterfeited in large quantities with sophisticated methods.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Van Truyen, Senior Expert Pharmacologist, former Deputy Minister of Health, said the production and trade of fake medicine and supplemental food not only existed for a long time in Vietnam but also in the world. According to estimates by many global organizations, fake medicines make up roughly US$80 billion of the global pharmaceutical market.

Meanwhile, these are specialized products and cannot be accurately identified as their quality by manual methods.

According to Prof. Dr. Le Van Truyen, in developed countries, informal distribution channels grow strongly and are unsafe. The countries face challenges due to the strong development of counterfeit online pharmacies, which often sell fake medicine and products at low prices. In addition, consumers often do not care about the serious consequences of online buying and using fake products.

Ms. Nguyen Dieu Ha, General Secretary and Chief of Office of the Vietnam Pharmaceutical Business Association, said that antibiotics have a high price of famous trademarks. The fake medicines are produced with sophisticated methods so that the consumers face difficulties to identify the fake products and authentic products. In order to protect the interests of customers and the reputation of pharmaceutical enterprises, many pharmaceutical companies have applied anti-counterfeiting technologies. However, they have not achieved the efficiency as they expect.

In addition, due to the large profits of production and trade of these products, the consumers do not have awareness and still buy medicines without prescription at pharmacies or online.

Smugglers have abused the strong development of e-commerce to sell fake products. The verification for medicine and supplemental food requires a high cost and takes a long time for identification.

The businesses and associations have not performed effectively. The market surveillance force has not been trained in depth in knowledge related to medicine, supplemental food and other information related to these products.