Bayer HealthCare backs calls for counterfeit medicine crackdown

Bayer HealthCare has highlighted the importance of global efforts to prevent the illegal trade of counterfeit medicines over the internet.

The firm was one of a number of pharmaceutical manufacturers to attend the recent Counterfeit Medicine Information Forum in Berlin, which also involved the German Customs Investigation Bureau, Interpol and representatives of the pharmacy trade.

According to World Health Organization estimates, one out of two medicines bought on the internet is counterfeit, with these fake drugs being highly dangerous due to their questionable ingredients and the unsafe conditions in which they are produced.

As such, attendees at the event called for cross-border systems and processes to eliminate forgeries from the supply chain and greater efforts to track down forgers, as well as educational campaigns to teach consumers about the risks fake medicines can pose.

Richard Bergstrom, general director of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, said: "We must ensure that patients in Europe receive their medicines from safe sources on a sustained basis."

Bayer HealthCare is one of the largest pharmaceutical firms in the world, generating sales of 18.6 million euros (15.63 million pounds) in 2012.