Fighting Counterfeit Medicines in Europe: The Effect on Access to Medicines

Abstract

The implementation of the Falsified Medicines Directive, and its Delegated Regulation with detailed specifications of safety features, will provide an additional obstacle for counterfeiters. The implementation of the Directive aims to prevent falsified medicines from reaching patients, and is in the interest of public health. However, the financial burden for manufacturers to implement these additional safety features, as well as the repository system that will allow the verification of authenticity of individual packs of medicine, may threaten the availability of medicines.