WHO to Review of “Counterfeit” Medicines Mechanism in 2017

The WHA decided this past week to postpone until 2017 a planned review of a mechanism that aims to raise awareness, put in place policies, and examine the effectiveness of efforts to tackle the problem of “substandard, spurious, falsely labelled, falsified, and counterfeit medical products.”

The decision to postpone had already been proposed by the WHO’s Executive Board during its meeting in late January.

The mechanism was set up in 2012, with the goal of facilitating international collaboration among WHO member states “from a public health perspective, excluding trade and intellectual property considerations,” regarding how to deal with such products. Under the terms of the initial decision, the mechanism was to be reviewed within three years. Member state participation in the mechanism is voluntary.

The decision to push back the review from its planned 2016 date was to allow additional time for the review and to put in place new policies to tackle this problem.