Amid the covid 19 situation, fake medicines are selling on top and in high prices, while there is a cartel has formed that works in smuggling the COVID-19 vaccination of all kinds, fake or real. The most concerning factor is the fake medicine which is been circulating in the market and commoners who seldom have any knowledge about these medicines and ways to protect them fall prey to these smugglers and not only lose a lot of money but also lose their dear ones, it is disheartening to see innocent people dying of not only cracked health system but also to fake medicines. In an attempt to spread awareness about good quality and genuine medicines, here are some ways to distinguish between fake from original medicines. Many are known to people, but a few are new.
This is a small attempt to spread awareness, and I hence would like readers to spread this article to spread awareness, and save more lives. The information is important, and hence it should be passed on.
Let us have a look at how we can differentiate between original and fake medicines.
The visual test
Have a close look at the package and find for most obvious errors, which include color change, the logo of the company not being right. Also, many applications scan barcodes and give information about medicines. Please don’t fall for them, as barcodes can be copied exactly, but the design of the cover and its colors are designed very carefully by an exclusive team, and it is very difficult to copy exactly to the smallest detail.
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| Pic credit: boomlive |
1. Look for the color of the package and medicine, look if there is any discoloration in the medicine, which generally occurs due to poor mixing of chemicals or lackadaisical mixture of components; this is rare in the original of real medicines.
2. Make sure you take any medicine in its original package and not in some newspaper wrappings or loose polythene. Even if the real medicine is taken out of its package, it is now exposed to temperature, humidity, and other environmental factors, which can cause discoloration.
3. Make sure that there is a mark of Rx on medicine that requires a prescription; the mark is only on medicine that cannot be sold over the counter.
Over-the-counter medicines are those that can be bought even without a prescription from a qualified doctor; generally, all major medicines have this sign.
4. Warning labels and instructions are properly described on the cover of the medicine or the box of the medicine. This is also difficult to copy since the medicines approved by the FDA are allowed to be sold in India too, so there will be a label on it. Just look out for the warning color and font
5. Use the power of the internet, before purchasing any medicine, just have a look at how the packaging looks, either on its parent website (website of the manufacturer) or any trusted medicine supplying website like PharmEasy, Apollo, Medicare, etc.
6. Missing manufactures logo, the logo of any manufacturer is practically his brand tag which is not unique but also registered under copyright act and companies act, apart from legal aspect the colors used are of specific hash values which cannot be known by simple reverse engineering techniques, hence look for its logo, font used, colour of the logo etc. often companies develop their font just to have a unique feature to distinguish.
7. In the whole package, look out for spelling errors and capitalization errors. Generally, people who copy are so hasty that they overlook these small details, even if they make no errors, the font will be different. (Refer to point 5)
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Real |
Fake |
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Vials |
vials |
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For use in |
for use in |
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India |
India (L instead of I) |
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Xxx mg/Vial |
Xxx Mg/vial |
8. Look for the TM mark, which indicates the trademark symbol; this also legally cannot be used by anyone but since it is easy to write it down, keep it on lower priority.
9. Dull colors with no proper diagrams.
What to do when the Medicine is fake?
Apart from not talking about the medicine, obviously!! There is a certain thing you can do to make sure others don’t fall prey to fake medicines.
1. Call 1800-180-5533 and complain. This is a help line number operated by the Food and Drug Administration.
2. Verify authenticity by sending SMS The Drug Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) has come up with a technological solution to check the authenticity of medicines. For this, consumers can SMS the unique “Authentication code” to 9901099010 to receive an authentication message from the pharmaceutical manufacturer.
While it is important that we take the right medicine, it is also important that we take steps to ensure that others also take the right medicines, so please report any fake medicines to either the above authorities or just go to the police; they might guide you on what to do next.
Thanks for reading, stay healthy and stay safe
Sources:
BBC Nigeria: How to spot fake medicine.
Pharmeasy
The Hindu
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