FDA express concerns about counterfeit medicines

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration have made another move to protect patients and consumers against counterfeit medicines. What the FDA have done is to set some guidance for pharmaceutical manufacturers who wish to incorporate physical–chemical identifiers (PCIDs) in solid oral dosage forms as an anticounterfeiting strategy. This is an important step to allow the medicine to be identified, because a PCID is a substance or combination of substances possessing a unique physical or chemical property that unequivocally identifies and authenticates a drug product or dosage form The full FDA document can be read here: FDA. This follows a series of other moves by the FDA, as I've reported on my Digital Journal blog previously. For example, the FDA has targeted the risk from re-used medical devices; it has also taken steps against unapproved drugs from being imported; and there have been U.S. and European moves to counter problems with prescription labeling. For those interested in reading more, I have also posted a news item about falsified medicines.