Oleksiy Solovyov: Providing citizens with quality and affordable medicines is a matter of national security

On October 1, 2021, under the chairmanship of Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Solovyov, a meeting of the working group on preparing proposals for implementation into national legislation of the Council of Europe Convention on the Counterfeiting of Medical Products and Similar Crimes involving Threats to Public Health (“Medicrime Convention”) was held.

Opening the meeting, the Deputy NSDC Secretary stressed that providing citizens with quality and affordable medicines is a matter of national security. “Transformation processes related to European integration, development of the pharmaceutical industry market, establishment of additional requirements for quality and safety of medicines necessitate the implementation of state policy aimed, in particular, at introducing modern methods of preventing counterfeiting of medical products, including medicines”, - he said.

Mr. Solovyov emphasized the need to strengthen the coordination of public authorities in combating the circulation of counterfeit drugs and the need to establish mechanisms for interagency cooperation at the expert level, because drugs that can not protect or cure patients not only lead to financial costs but also directly threaten the health and lives of patients.
The participants of the meeting noted that the imperfect legal instruments of prosecution for counterfeiting of medicines, medical devices, veterinary drugs, dietary supplements, as well as the problem of uncontrolled circulation of counterfeit medical products remain an important problem.

Following the meeting, the members of the working group should prepare joint proposals to amend national legislation in terms of establishing liability for counterfeiting of medical products and similar crimes, as well as the possibility of to directly implement the relevant law.

People’s Deputy, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Health of the Nation, Medical Care, and Health Insurance Mykhailo Radutsky, Professor of Criminal Law at Poltava Law Institute Natalia Gutorova, Chairman of the State Medical Service Roman Isaenko, Acting Director General of the Pharmaceutical Directorate of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine Ivan Zadvornykh, Director of the Department of Food Safety and Veterinary Medicine of the State Food and Consumer Service Borys Kobal, representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, National Police of Ukraine, National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine and others participated in the meeting.