MANAMA: GCC Health Executive Board Pharmacies' Central Registration Department Head Mohammed Al Haydary on Wednesday stated that the Gulf is free from 'fake medicines'.
"No country is empty of fake medicines but percentages are different between countries depending on their pharmaceutical control and percentages of the GCC countries are among the lowest in the world," Al Haydary said.
Clarifying that there was a big difference in definition between 'generic' medicines and fake medicines, Al Haydary explained that generic medicines have the same proprieties, raw materials, content, dosage, category, form and production method of the original medicines and are produced in known and registered factories, while 'fake' weren't.
"GCC countries are registering generic medicines after assuring its compliance with international standards, while fake medicines manufacturers, sources and contents are unknown and are illegally imported," he said.
"Original medicines factories are given producing rights for twenty years, after that period is done other factories have the rights to produce and register them. International health organisation urges the use of generic medicines because they are cheaper and don't need clinical studies. They are 30%-70% cheaper than the price of the original, that's why 70%-80% of the western markets are depending on them," he added. (QNA)
