Preventing counterfeit medicines

The Danish Medicines Agency is working together with the industry and other public authorities to prevent counterfeit medicines from entering the legal supply chain in Denmark.

The Danish Medicines Agency’s Network on counterfeit medicines

The Danish Medicines Agency has taken initiative to set up a Network against Counterfeit Medicines. The purpose of the Network is to prevent counterfeit medicines from reaching the consumers. The Network consists of public authorities, professional organizations and representatives from all of the distribution chain. The network meets regularly and discusses issues related to counterfeit medicines with the aim of taking initiatives both locally and interdisciplinary to prevent counterfeit medicines. Further information on the Network can be found at The Danish Medicines Agency website.

Guidance on the prevention of counterfeit medicines

A working group set up by the The Danish Medicines Agency’s Network against counterfeit medicines and comprising of representatives from the The Danish Medicines Agency and relevant professional bodies in the area, has produced the guide "Guide to the Prevention of Counterfeit Medicines." The guide contains instructions for pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies on

- Protection of the supply chain of medicines

- Control of collaborators

- Delivery control

- Risk Assessment

- Information to public authorities and partners

The guide can be downloaded here.

The Danish Medicines Agency E-form for corporate reporting of counterfeit medicines

Companies holding an authorisation pursuant to the Danish Medicines Act, section 7 and section 39, subsection 1, shall immediately report any findings of counterfeit medicines within the company to the Danish Medicines Agency (see Danish Medicines Act, section 43 b, subsection 2). For holders of an authorisation pursuant to section 7 and holders of an authorisation for the manufacturing of medicines, this requirement also includes any findings outside the company’s business, which may come to the company’s  attention. The reporting of such findings is done through an e-form available on The Danish Medicines Agency website.  

The Danish Medicines Agency statistics "Product Defects and Recalls of Pharmaceutical Products in 2008"

The Danish Medicines Agency has neither in 2008 nor in earlier years received any reports on findings of counterfeit medicinal products within the legal supply chain in Denmark.  The full 2008 statistics from the Danish Medicines Agency is available here.  

The Danish Medicines Agency’s "NIX-PILLE” information campaign

Under the tag lines "Take care of yourself - buy approved weight loss pills" and "The Internet is overflowing with harmful weight loss pills", the Danish Medicines Agency has launched the campaign “NIX-PILLE”. 

The campaign website includes

- Facts about weight loss pills

- Footage from the manufacturing of counterfeit and dangerous weight loss pills

- Information on what consumers should be aware of

Many of the dangerous weight loss pills are counterfeits of genuine products. Weight loss pills, which are not approved by the authorities, can contain anything from lime and cement and too high doses of the active medical ingredient, to substances which are not declared on the package. Here is a link to the campaign website.