Agency drafts tough laws to stem fake drugs

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Agency of Drug and Food Control is drafting tougher laws to end to the widespread distribution of fake medicines in Indonesia.

"We need new laws with heavy penalties. If the punishment is too light it will not deter these criminals," Agency therapeutic products inspection director Kustantinah said Wednesday.

She said the House of Representatives had thrown its weight behind the proposal, and that the agency was drafting the bill.

Currently, producers and distributors of fake drugs can be jailed for 15 years under the Criminal Code.

However, fake drug producers and distributors are rarely sentenced to anything longer than one year.

According to BPOM's 2002 annual report, one drug counterfeiter was only jailed for six months and fined Rp 300,000 (US$35.30).

She said drug counterfeiting was a big business but could not say how much money it was estimated at, nor how many people were estimated to have died as a result of taking fake medication.

"Drugs counterfeiters are targeting the top products that are easily sold out in the market or those that are bought regularly for ongoing illnesses, such as diabetes," Kustantinah said.

Other drugs often counterfeited were regularly consumed medications such as aspirin.

Indonesian Pharmaceutical Association chairman Anthony Ch. Sunarjo said the amount of fake drugs in the country was now at disturbing levels.

"It is not easy to determine ... the value of the loss we are experiencing. Some drug manufacturers may complain that their selling is decreasing by a certain percentage, but there might be a lot of reasons besides drug counterfeiting."

Anthony said a lack of marketing campaigns and tight competition could have contributed to decreased sales.

However, the total value of fake drugs distributed worldwide could reach US$100 billion, he said.

"Fake drugs could surely cause a big loss for the industry as well as disadvantage consumers. However, we can not totally wipe out these counterfeiters. We can only minimize with a continuous campaign," said Anthony.

Special packs with high-tech identification markings could be introduced, he said.

"But using such technologies will surely effect the unit cost of the drug company itself by about five percent," he said.