A recent study has found that counterfeit drugs may be pushing overdose deaths in some parts of the world, particularly in the United States where over 100,000 drug overdose deaths were recorded in 2022.

In a September 2023 study, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that overdose deaths with evidence of counterfeit pill use in the United States have doubled from two percent in July to September 2019 to 4.7 percent in October to December 2021.

Considering that the Philippines is more vulnerable to counterfeit trade compared to the United States, Southeast Asia and the world — the former scoring 7 compared to the latter's 6, 6.32 average and 4.98 average in the Trade in Counterfeit Goods component of the Global Organized Crime Index — protecting our borders from counterfeit medicines should be at the top of our minds, especially with last week's celebration of "National Consciousness Week Against Counterfeit Medicines, or NCWACM."

But before anything else, allow me to take this time to clear allegations in several reports that the Philippines is a source country or exporter of counterfeit medicines.

Among these reports is the Special 301 Report by the United States Trade Representative, or USTR.

In its latest publication this year, the Philippines, China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Pakistan, were identified as top countries that serve as sources of counterfeit medicines globally. Naturally, some news reports followed what was said.

The USTR cited data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the European Union IP Office, or EUIPO, which has faithfully used the term "provenance economy" when surveying nations in the context of counterfeit trade.

The use of "provenance economy" in the EUIPO/OECD's 2022 Dangerous Fakes Report follows the definition as used in its series of Trade in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods Report, where the term was first introduced. Here, provenance economy "refers to those economies of origin where the actual production of infringing goods is taking place, as well as those economies that function as ports of transit through which infringing goods pass prior to the economy of destination." Similarly, the 2022 Dangerous Fakes Report does not categorically identify any economy it cited as a manufacturer of dangerous fakes as a "provenance economy" could be a source or a transit point.

With that misconception cleared, I reiterate the need to channel our resources in border protection. The Food and Drug Regulatory Agency, a member of the NCIPR, has been taking proactive measures to seize and collect all reported counterfeit goods and ensuring the proper documentation and disposal of these items.

Recently, the FDA issued Order 2023- 2023, titled "Guidelines Governing the Transport, Receipt, Handling, Storage and Disposal of all Health Products, Pertinent Equipment or Documents, Other Finished and Unfinished Materials, Containers, and Labeling Materials that are Collected and Seized."

For our part at the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines, or IPOPHL, recently expanded its pool of partners to prevent counterfeit medicines from penetrating local supply chains.

Signatories of the E-Commerce Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which aims to speed up the take-down of posts selling counterfeits online, recently grew to 34 with the inking of Tiktok, Greenstone Pharmaceutical and Quadgen Pharmaceutical at the IP Enforcement Summit this month. 

Provenance economy refers to those economies of origin where the actual production of infringing goods is taking place, as well as those economies that function as ports of transit through which infringing goods pass prior to the economy of destination.

The E-Commerce MoU already has onboard the biggest e-commerce platforms, including Lazada, Shopee, Zalora. It is also composed of several global and local brand owners and business associations, including those in the pharmaceutical sector like Josefina Manufacturing, Inc., Pharmaceutical Security Institute and Sanofi. Soon, we hope to expand signatories to the members of the Pharmaceutical & Healthcare Association of the Philippines which will be a gamechanger in building cooperation.

With more pharmaceutical partners like Quadgen and Greenstone and another giant social media platform like Tiktok, which is an emerging platform for selling products, IPOPHL hopes to help the country save more lives from the death traps of the counterfeit drug trade.