Global Circulation of Imitated Products, Poor Quality Pharmaceuticals, Fake Products, and Health Problems

The world is full of businesses handling imitated and counterfeit products. A business engaged in poor quality pharmaceuticals is part of them and is almost common in characteristics to them; it is not a unique phenomenon occurring in the field of medicine. One end of the problem of poor quality pharmaceuticals is the result of the act of malicious criminals and the other end, the result of an act that is based on good intentions but which is undeveloped technologically. Between these two ends, there exists more than one condition that cannot be determined to be included in either category. Systematic data with which we can investigate this complicated and tangled problem have been scarce and reliable analyses so far have been insufficient. Work to link fragmentary information and data together so as to identify the actual status of the problem is necessary. Counterfeit medicines derived from poor quality pharmaceuticals have some things in common with imitated products available as ordinary goods. Both are inauthentic. Both are usually inferior in quality to and less expensive than genuine products.