Serhii Lebed, Alla Nemchenko, Viktoria Nazarkina

Abstract

The analysis of world experience in fighting against trafficking of counterfeit medicines (CM) in the historical aspect is carried out. Globalization and the development of international trade, including through the Internet, have contributed to the spread of trafficking. Currently, CM trafficking is one of the most profitable types of illegal business, the volume of the counterfeit market is growing every year – in some countries, the proportion of counterfeits can reach 70% of the pharmaceutical market. CM is a serious threat to the domestic market although, in 2016, Ukraine following the "MEDICRIME" Convention was introduced criminal responsibility for the production and distribution of CM. The functions and powers of national, regional and international governmental and non-governmental organizations have been analyzed, as well as the effectiveness of their interaction within different projects. The most effective can be considered cooperation within the International Medical Products Anti-counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT), which allowed combination of the efforts of governments and World Health Organization (WHO), Council of Europe, OECD, Interpol, FIP, International Federation of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers (IFPW) and other international organizations. The relevance of more active involving Interpol and Europol in fighting with the spread of CM at the global and national levels is justified‎.