DESCRIPTION OF DRUG LABELS AS A STRATEGY FOR IDENTIFICATION OF COUNTERFEIT MEDICINES

Abstract

Counterfeit medicines pose a public health problem by exposing the population to risks related to the use of products with unverifiable quality and safety. The fight against its trade is part of a Sanitary Surveillance action strategy, an organ in which the pharmacist plays an important role related to the identification of these, action extendable to other population segments. The present study aims to describe the labels of seized products evidencing variables that are easy to identify and indicative of unlawfulness by non-pharmacists. The seizures carried out by the inspection team occurred in drugstores located in the municipality of Macroregion Northeast Brazil following the main legislation in force on the subject. Of the four products seized, two were presented as vegetable oils, one as a cosmetic and the other as a food supplement. Vegetable oils presented false information about the manufacturer, and the others did not present information about it. All presented therapeutic purposes or actions, in disagreement with sanitary legislation. Variables related to the producer, composition, and purpose of use of the product may comprise a strategy for expanding enforcement actions related to counterfeit products, considering educational and guiding actions for drug store owners and drug users. It is evident the importance of the appropriation of knowledge by the agents, directly and indirectly, involved in the therapeutic chain, in line with the guidelines of Law No. 8.080, of September 19, 1990, which treats health as direct of all and duty of the State without, however, exclude from membership in society their respective duties to the health of others.