Minister Dao Hong Lan: 'The counterfeit rate can be up to 50% with drugs sold online'

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan cited data from the World Health Organization, estimating that 10% of drugs in low- and middle-income countries are of poor quality or counterfeit.

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan - Photo: GIA HAN

On the morning of August 21, at the explanation session on the prevention of counterfeit drugs and fake food, delegate Nguyen Ngoc Son, National Assembly Committee on Science - Technology - Environment, asked the Minister of Health to give an assessment of the situation of counterfeit drugs in Vietnam.

At the same time, forecast trends and solutions for this problem in the coming period.

Counterfeit drugs appear in all countries

Responding to delegates, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that according to the World Health Organization, no country is immune to the problem of counterfeit drugs. That is, counterfeit drugs appear in all countries around the world.

The Minister of Health cited data from the World Health Organization estimating that 10% of drugs in low- and middle-income countries are of poor quality or counterfeit.

“The rate of counterfeit drugs can be up to 50% for drugs sold online,” said Ms. Lan, adding that this information is needed to find solutions, and it is necessary to focus on fighting counterfeit drugs.

Ms. Lan added that counterfeit drugs in underdeveloped, low-income countries often include many types and they focus on preventive drugs for people with chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, antibiotics, and vaccines, leading to very serious consequences.

From there, she stated that the Ministry of Health has consulted on building laws and implementing solutions to overcome the problem.

In Vietnam, according to the provisions of the Law on Pharmacy, 100% of vaccine and biological product batches must be tested by the National Institute for Vaccine and Biological Product Control to meet requirements before being granted a factory release certificate.

For other drugs, 100% of batches must meet standards before being released.

Drugs in circulation must be randomly sampled by the state quality management agency for quality testing at state testing facilities.

According to Ms. Lan, every year, medical units have tested 38,000 drug samples. The rate of substandard drugs and counterfeit drugs in recent years has been less than 2%. In 2024, the rate of substandard drugs will be 0.45% and the rate of counterfeit drugs will be less than 0.1%.

Ms. Lan informed that the Ministry of Health forecasts that the situation of counterfeit drugs in Vietnam will continue to increase, because currently on e-commerce platforms, buying and selling transactions via electronic means are very large. As the world estimates, 50% of electronic transactions are counterfeit drugs or at risk of being counterfeit drugs.

Therefore, the Ministry of Health identified this as a high-risk group to coordinate with relevant ministries and branches to have focused solutions.

She analyzed that Vietnam's current pharmaceutical market is about 7 - 10 billion USD. Therefore, this is an opportunity for illegal businesses.

Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen quality management from production, circulation, distribution to retail, and there must be solutions for each supply chain to ensure this.

Delegate Ta Van Ha carrying a suspected fake milk box - Photo: GIA HAN

You should buy medicine at reputable, licensed facilities.

Delegate Pham Trong Nghia asked Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan to provide solutions to develop applications and public query systems, helping people easily check the origin and legality of drugs before buying.

Agreeing with delegate Nghia that there must be an information retrieval system to prevent counterfeit drugs, Minister Dao Hong Lan said that currently, drug buyers mainly observe the packaging and design but lack tools to trace the origin.

The Prime Minister has recently given clear instructions on the construction of databases as well as solutions to trace the origin of goods in general, especially medicines and food.

In addition, Ms. Lan said that the Ministry of Health is currently updating information related to counterfeit drugs on the Ministry's websites, the Drug Administration Department or applying early warnings, increasing propaganda on mass media to support people to grasp the content related to the situation of counterfeit drugs.

The Minister recommends that people buy medicine by prescription or from reputable establishments, such as hospital pharmacies, licensed establishments, and chain-managed establishments.

The quality of these establishments is always strictly managed. As for retail establishments or those buying through other people, you must be very careful.

Previously, bringing the milk box to the explanation session, Vice Chairman of the Committee for Culture and Society Ta Van Ha said he suspected the product was fake but did not know which agency was responsible and who or which agency to report to.

Explaining later, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan said that Decree 98 clearly stated the situations to identify counterfeit goods. Therefore, the milk box that Mr. Ha brought to the explanation session was likely fake.

However, he said that to prove that these are fake goods, there must be a competent authority to check. For example, the Market Management Department must have a process to check in order to confirm that these are fake goods and be able to handle them.

"This is a process in the law. We are trying to review and amend so that for special products related to fake drugs and fake food, there will be strict and quick processes for early handling," Mr. Tan said.

Mr. Tan affirmed that there are sufficient sanctions for counterfeit goods and counterfeit drugs, even criminal ones. However, the current sanctions are not enough of a deterrent. Mr. Tan said that in the near future, when Decree 98 is revised, more appropriate sanctions will be added.

However, with the huge profits of counterfeit drugs and food, businesses will certainly continue to counterfeit. However, the most important thing is that the mechanism must detect quickly, handle quickly and strictly.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bo-truong-dao-hong-lan-ti-le-gia-co-the-len-den-50-voi-thuoc-ban-qua-mang-20250821144737787.htm