Recently Thomas Kubic from the Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM) posted a blog entry on why people buy counterfeit drugs and other counterfeit products. He based his commentary on a Wall Street Journal article on the same subject, discussing the underlying motivation that leads people to buy counterfeit products. The WSJ article discussed efforts currently underway to help deter people from buying counterfeit products. The article also included a survey of people in the United States, Brazil, China, India, and Russia on why they would consider buying counterfeit products. The authors asked consumers to consider and rank five factors that may influence their decision to buy counterfeit drugs or a pirated movie – quality, cost, sentiment, ethics and ease of purchase. Researchers received a variety of responses, especially when it came to why they would buy a fake DVD and why they would purchase counterfeit medicine. Overall, the authors found consumers would buy a fake because: • They thought it was just as good as a legitimate product; • They could not afford the genuine product; • They do not like the big businesses that make the authentic products; • They do not think it is illegal or immoral to do so; and/or, • The products were easy to obtain. Thomas Kubic and others at the Partnership for Safe Medicines work every day to stress the importance of consumers understanding the threat counterfeit medicines pose to the safety of our global drug supply. He states, “Consumers and policymakers should know that the public health is at risk as 1) counterfeit medicines are never safe; 2) counterfeit medicines are here; and 3) there are many assistance programs to help obtain genuine medicines.” PSM offers a number of free resources to help consumers understand the real health and safety issues that accompany every counterfeit drug.
