KARACHI, Sept 12: Pakistan has become a lucrative market worth millions of rupees for import and export of spurious medicines.

The main source of import of such drugs is said to be China while these are exported mainly to African countries, revealed private agencies dealing with prevention of fake drugs in the local market.

About 15 to 20 per cent of the drug market in the country constitute counterfeit life-savings drugs and injections.

These medicines are directly imported from China or through Afghan transit trade, as well as from Dubai via Iran and Kabul to Pakistan through Chaman border.

Human carriers are used who bring expired expensive stocks in their personal baggage. These include life-saving drugs and injections as well as blood glucose and sugar testing strips.

This stuff is mainly brought from Thailand, Dubai and China.

After import, these fake and expired medicines are packed locally in new tins. Their expiry date label is replaced with a new valid date label printed locally and despatched to the local market for sale.

The other issue of illegal medicine business is imitation of original drugs registered with the Trademark department.

According to a rough estimate, about 30 to 35 per cent of imitation drugs resembling original products are sold in the local market.

Giving details of counterfeit and fake drugs, the agency sources said Panadol, a common drug, is marketed with three prototypes called Penadol and Penedol with the same packing and colour as of the orginal drug.

Uneducated people in villages buy these fake drugs offered in the same packing as of original product.

Another example is of Polyfax, a common eye ointment which is sold in the market with counterfeit products, such as Polyfex, Polyeye and polyase.

These fake drugs do not have the same pure ingredients as contained in the original products and hence were injurious to health.

Agencies dealing with counterfeit medicines blamed the ministry of health for illegal medicine business which while issuing a license for a product do not check with the Trademark department about registration of any product with the same name.

Also drug inspectors fail to check the sale of counterfeit medicines in the market, which encourages manufacturers of fake drugs.

Col (retd) Faiz Mukhtar of Pakistan Intellectual Property Rights Solution (PIPS) suggested that illegal business of counterfeit drugs and expired medicines could only be effectively checked if police and other law enforcing agencies are given powers to raid markets to confiscate fake medicines, which is presently the exclusive domain of drug inspector who connive with the manufacturers of fake medicines to put lives of common people at risk.

Secondly, there should be a strict law to prevent printing presses to print fake drugs labels, including fake validity labels to be affixed on counterfeit medicines. Presently, there is no strict enforcement of laws regulating printing presses in the county.

Meanwhile, Director of Trademark Registry Mohammad Mohsin confirmed that the sale of fake medicines in the market had assumed alarming proportions and the Drug Act, federal, provincial and municipal laws have failed to check the phenomenon.

He said there was no clear distinction between powers of governments, health department and police and FIA. There is a need to coordinate all laws for a strict enforcement to check the illegal business.