Connect to share and comment Health experts are urging the
United States and other countries to boost their ability to
identify fake or subpar medicines and close loopholes that allow
products to be falsified or diluted. In an international system
in which different companies in many countries make ingredients
for single treatments, no country alone can effectively enforce
quality control on drugs that can be the fine line between life
and death, stressed a report by the independent Institute of
Medicine (IOM). "Falsified and substandard medicines are a grave
public health problem because they are ineffective, promote drug
resistance, and even cause severe illness and death,
particularly in developing countries where they regularly flood
the market," said Lawrence Gostin, health law expert at
Georgetown University Law Center who led the group of 12 experts
who did the study. "We're calling on WHO, in collaboration with
regulators, companies, and civil society worldwide, to adopt a
global code of practice, bui