Pharma Israel, which is made up of 14 international drug companies operating in Israel, today joined the umbrella organization for combating forgery and infringement of copyrights, affiliated with the Federation of Chambers of Commerce.
At a meeting held by the organization, Pharma Israel general manager Dr. Yoav Shechter warned that "exposing the market to parallel drug imports will make drug forgery as common as disk, software and cassette piracy. Here, however, we're talking about a genuine threat to public health, rather than mere economic damage."
Shechter said that apparently smuggled drugs of unknown origin are already openly offered for sale. He added that if the parallel import regulations approved by the Minister of Health go into effect, Israel might be flooded with counterfeit drugs.
According to Shechter, it is difficult to estimate the counterfeit drug market accurately, but the global market is believed to be worth billions of dollars, and organized crime is actively involved.
Dr. Shechter said that international drug companies would appeal against the regulations to the High Court of Justice in the coming weeks.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 2 July, 2000