By Abdel Kader Ramadan, Aswat Masriya In a staggering statistic, Osama Rostom, head of the chamber of pharmaceutical industries, said recently that the pharmacists syndicate estimated the existence of EGP 600 million (approximately $US 76.6 million) worth of counterfeit and expired drugs in the Egyptian market, constituting two percent of the country’s total annual pharmaceutical sales. To counter that, Egypt’s pharmaceutical companies will launch a six-month campaign on October 17 to collect the fake and expired medicines from pharmacies nation-wide. This is the second initiative of its kind, the first taking place back in 2012. At a press conference on Sunday, Rostom said that the sweep initiative was a collaborative agreement between the health ministry, producers, distributors and pharmacies. The campaign’s kick-off date will also coincide with a new policy regulating the return of expired drugs. Throughout the six-month duration of the campaign, all manufacturing companies will unconditionally accept all returns of medicines which expired before October 17. “We will accept all quantities of expired medicine,” explained Rostom. “Each manufacturer will examine their returns and upon approval, will compensate the pharmacist for them. But if it is proven that the…
Campaign Against Counterfeit and Expired Medicines to Launch in Egypt
October 6, 2015
