Below you will find an expanding list of stats, quotes, reports and more we think you’ll find of interest.

• The United States Food and Drug Administration estimates that counterfeits make up more than 10% of the global medicines market and are present in both industrialized and developing countries.
• In any given month, 45% of Americans are taking a prescription drug. This number includes nearly 1 out of every 4 children and 8 out of every 10 senior citizens. ¹
• 3.7 billion prescriptions were written in 2006 in the United States ². A drug counterfeit rate of 1% would translate into 37 million prescriptions being filled with fake, sub-potent, and even harmful drug products.
• Counterfeiting drugs is a big business. The Centre for Medicines in the Public Interest has predicted that counterfeit drug sales could nearly double to $75 billion by 2010. ³
• The Food and Drug Administration reported that more than 100 patients have died while taking the blood thinner heparin since early 2007. Nearly 800 severe allergic reactions associated with heparin have also been reported.
• The general public is not aware of the seriousness of the counterfeit drugs issue due to a lack of media attention. Last year, three times as many press stories were written about contaminated toys as were written about counterfeit medications. ⁴

[1] National Center for Health Statistics (2007)
[2] IMS Health (March, 2007) .
[3] Center for Medicines in the Public Interest (CMPI).
[4] Schwartz Communications’ analysis of 2007 press stories in the United States.