THE Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (Ipophl) disputed the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) claim that the Philippines may be a producer of fake medicines.
In a statement, the country’s copyright regulator said the USTR based its claim on reports from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Union IP Office (EUIPO), which referred to countries like the Philippines as “provenance economies.”
“The term tags a country as either a source or a transit point for fake medicines, acknowledging the challenge in distinguishing between the two,” the Ipophl said.
The OECD website refers to provenance economies “where the actual production of infringing goods is taking place, and economies that function as ports of transit through which infringing goods pass. Any economy can be the provenance of counterfeit and pirated trade, and the scope of these provenance economies is very broad.”
The Ipophl pointed out that the OECD and EUIPO used data from 2017 to 2019, which showed reports of seizures of fake medicines could underestimate or overestimate its ranking of provenance economies.
‘No evidence’
Pharmaceutical Security Institute (PSI) regional director for Asia Pacific Ramesh Raj Kishore said all stakeholders, including pharmaceutical manufacturers and retailers, must work with law enforcement agencies to detect and prevent corruption of the integrity of the supply chain. Kishore emphasized the Philippine government has established an “excellent partnership” with various stakeholders to disrupt criminal networks and raise public awareness in avoiding counterfeit medicines. “In PSI’s open-source intelligence report, there has been no evidence to suggest that counterfeit medicines are manufactured in the Philippines, but rather [these are] detained in transit and/or upon import,” he said. The United States-based PSI is a nonprofit organization that protects public health by sharing information and resources against pharmaceutical counterfeiting. It has 37 medical manufacturer-members from various nations that help develop regulatory frameworks to ensure only legitimate products reach the market. The Ipophl-PSI partnership helps divert large volumes of counterfeit pharmaceuticals seized in Philippine ports.
Ipophl Director General Rowel Barba said the Philippines has been transparent in its reporting of pharmaceutical raids.
For his part, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director General Samuel Zacate assured cooperation with the Ipophl and the National Committee on Intellectual Property Rights to put an end to USTR’s claims, which he said “damage the country’s reputation.”
Meanwhile, in celebration of National Consciousness Week Against Counterfeit Medicines every third week of November, the Ipophl recognized the FDA’s role in intercepting P28 million worth of counterfeit medicines and health devices as of September.
Counterfeit drugs accounted for the bulk of the seizures valued at P21.9 million; food products, P5.2 million; cosmetics and household or urban and hazardous substances, P711,000; and health devices, P142,000.
“Through coordinated operations and strict enforcement, FDA agents have seized a range of illicit items that threaten the safety of Filipino consumers. Each seizure represents a victory in our mission to ensure that only genuine and safe products are traded in the Philippine market,” Barba said.
Be the first to comment