Some 60% of people worry their prescribed medicines “might be counterfeit or substandard”, new research has found.
The survey by Avery Dennison, published last week, collected responses from 5,000 people across the UK, the US, France and Germany who “regularly take prescribed medication”.
It found that concerns about the legitimacy of prescribed medicines varied by countries, with 63% of Americans reporting “anxiety about counterfeit medication”, compared to 57% of French respondents.
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And respondents who use online pharmacies reported higher levels of concern, with 70% across all countries expressing worry about fake medicines.
Similarly, the biggest worry among those who order medicines online was the “risk of receiving substandard or counterfeit products”, with 41% citing this as a concern - and for Brits and Americans, this figure rose to 45%.
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The legitimacy of online pharmacies was a concern for 34% of people, making it the second-biggest worry cited by respondents.
Online pharmacy legitimacy was a concern for 40% of respondents in the UK and 39% of those in the US, but the figure was lower in France and Germany, at 30% and 21%, respectively.
Demand for “assurance”
Avery Dennison said the survey results “indicate a clear demand for greater control and assurance”.
And the company’s senior director Barbara van Rymenam said “people are understandably seeking greater confidence in the medicines they take”.
She added that digital product verification “can transform how patients interact with their medications”, enable “pharmaceutical companies to protect their brands” and “help safeguard patients from the very real threat of counterfeits”.
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It comes after “over two million doses of illegal medicines worth more than £4m” were seized as part of an international 14-day enforcement operation in March.
And it follows two online pharmacies being reported as fake after it was found they had used the address of a hospital as their NHS registration details.
