Oleksiy Solovyov held a meeting of the working group of the NSDC Staff to prepare proposals for the implementation of the provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on the counterfeiting of medical products and similar crimes involving threats to public health
Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Solovyov held a meeting of the working group of the NSDC Staff to prepare proposals for the implementation of the provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on the counterfeiting of medical products and similar crimes involving threats to public health.
Opening the meeting, Mr. Solovyov, the head of the working group, noted that, unfortunately, falsified and low-quality medicines are a global problem not only in Ukraine but all over the world. The World Health Organization estimates that one in ten medicines in low- and middle-income countries is of low quality or counterfeit. “Medicines that cannot help or cure patients threaten their health and sometimes even their lives”, - said the Deputy NSDC Secretary.
According to Mr. Solovyov, Ukraine provides for criminal liability for crimes related to the falsification of medicines. In addition, on April 3, 2019, the Order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine № 301-r approved the Concept for the implementation of state policy to prevent counterfeiting of medical products and the action plan for its implementation.
He reported that the State Service of Ukraine for Medications and Drugs Control did not allow almost 20.6 million packages of medicines of improper quality for a total of about 400 million hryvnias over the period from 01.01.2008 to 01.04.2020. In addition, in recent years, cases of detection of smuggled medications imported to Ukraine’s pharmaceutical market have become more frequent.
At the same time, there exist problematic issues in combating counterfeiting of medications, and measures to counteract the spread of counterfeited products in Ukraine are insufficient.
Among the problematic issues, Mr. Solovyov also mentioned the lack of control over the market of dietary supplements and unresolved issues at the legislative level regarding licensing and distance trade of medicines, the lack of appropriate criminal liability for bringing counterfeited medical devices to market.
According to him, the mechanism for exercising the powers of the State Medical Service needs to be improved.
Thus, Mr. Solovyov said, one of the most important tasks in health care, given the rapid development of the pharmaceutical industry and additional requirements for quality and safety of medicines, is to improve public policy for implementing modern methods to prevent counterfeiting of medical products.
The participants of the meeting considered the problematic issues of implementation of the provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on the counterfeiting of medical products and similar crimes involving threats to public health in the circulation of food additives and cosmetics with medicinal properties or active ingredients, as well as in consumer rights protection and veterinary medicine.
Among other things, the issues of withdrawal of dangerous medical products, control over distance trade and delivery of medical products, and implementation by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine of a pilot project on labeling and monitoring the circulation of drugs to combat counterfeiting were discussed.
Following the discussion, the members of the working group should shortly submit to the Staff of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine proposals to improve the legislation in the above area.
Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Medications and Drugs Control Roman Isayenko, Acting Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection Olga Shevchenko, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Public Health, Medical Assistance and Medical Insurance Mykhailo Radutsky, representatives of law enforcement agencies, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, leading Ukrainian lawyers attended the meeting.
The working group was formed by the order of Secretary of the NSDC of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov “in the interests of national security, in order to prevent threats to life and health of citizens of Ukraine due to counterfeiting of medical products and further prevention of such crimes”.
The Council of Europe Convention on the counterfeiting of medical products and similar crimes was ratified by the Law of Ukraine of 7 June 2012 № 4908-VI “On Ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on the counterfeiting of medical products and similar crimes involving threats to public health”.