Collaboration Within and

between Countries

“Working together against

Fake Medicines”

by Bejon Misra, Founder Director

Partner for Safe Medicines (PSM) India

Friday 6th February 2015

Taipei, Taiwan

Mission

• A public health group committed to the safety of prescription drugs and protecting consumers against spurious and not-of-standards or otherwise unsafe medicines

Vision

• Just One Unsafe Medicine Threatens Patient Safety… we all must work together to educate and to help protect patients in India and around the globe

PSM India

Overarching Objectives

•To adopt modern technology to empower and enable Indian consumers to access safe medicines as a patient’s right to safety and informed choice

•To integrate spurious with not-of-standards and unsafe medicines as per the existing laws in India

•To ensure consumer safety prevails as the priority by engaging with all the stakeholders in an equitable manner, with a focus on the poor and vulnerable consumers in India

PSM India Board of Trustees

1. Secretary General, Indian Medical Association (IMA)

2. Former President, All India Women’s Conference (AIWC)

3. Former Chief Information Commissioner, Govt. of India, Chairman

4. Chairman of Healthy You Foundation (Consumer Organisation)

5. Supreme Court Of India Advocate

6. Former Secretary to the Govt. of India

7. Founder & Trustee, Consumer Online Foundation

8. Former Chief of Customs & Excise, Govt. of India

9. WHO Consultant

10. Pharmaceutical Regulatory Consultant

11. Medical Practitioner and Retired from Indian Defence Services

12. Former Vice President of International Pharmaceutical Federation

13. Director, Cell for Consumer Education and Advocacy

14. Founder of Private Hospital Dealing with Emergency Care, Vice Chairman

15. Chairman, THINK TANK Pharma Industry Forum

15 Members with Broad Experience

PSM India: The Beginning

• Concept:

– Emerged from brainstorming session organized by PSM USA based on

individual meetings with key stakeholders with interest in PSM

• Steering Committee:

– Formal board members based on organization meeting prior to launch

• Immediate Goals:

– Build strong coalition with all stakeholders engaged in the medicine

supply chain

– Make PSM patient centric with support from government

– Make PSM dedicated to patient safety, quality medicines & healthcare

Building PSM India

• Process:

– Consulted and re-consulted the stakeholders, especially government

and consumer/patient groups, to build PSM toward addressing key

concerns about unsafe medicines

– For board members, identified individuals and organizations with an

excellent track record on its competence and reach. Ensured

participation by entities in the medicine supply chain

• Government involvement

– Government officials always invited to Board meetings even though they

are not board members

– Joint educational and outreach activities with PSM

– Co-share resources for organizing events, workshops and training

initiatives

• Other stakeholders

– Lawyers, law enforcers, research institutions also invited as observers

Lessons Learned

• Put forward PSM objectives in open manner and engage

all stakeholders from the beginning to build support and

cooperation

• Create good vibrant website with regular newsletter to

push out

• Organize events on range of health care topics, but

connect to the issue of tackling counterfeit medicines in

the supply chain

• Maintain regular connection with government

• Recognize and give credit to organizations playing a

positive role in advancing the objectives of PSM

Advice for Similar Alliances in other Countries

• Make sure the PSM is driven by local leadership and interests

• Do not allow PSM to be viewed as an initiative of any one Cluster or

sector

• Avoid straying into issues that are not clearly related to the fight

against fake medicines and educating the public about the risks

• Do not make it look like a club of a few elite institutions or individuals

• Do not ignore your detractors or critics

Aggressive but well-calibrated organization led to successful

partnerships including all levels of Indian government

Indian pharmaceutical industry buy-in

Public education campaign with regular Newsletter, dynamic

website and toll-free 24/7 Helpline

As a result, Indian consumers finally have the ability to educate

themselves on the dangers of fake medicines

Indian government is more aware of risks and more willing to

crack down on counterfeit producers

PSM India: Progress

PSM India: The Future

Connect and empower the consumer: • More than 900 million consumers have mobile phones in India

• More than 1 billion consumers with access to television/radio

What and how to communicate? • How to procure safe medicines (generic & branded) from secured

sources

• Educate consumers to report adverse reactions from medicines

• Strengthen the national pharmacovigilance system

• Create champions as whistleblowers to report unethical practices

and expose the culprits

PSM India to Work on Patient’s Charter

on Access to Safe Medicines

Standards

Choice

Accessibility

Non-discrimination

Transparency

Accountability

Information

Quality of service

Consumer Empowerment is the Key

Demo

manufacturer

authenticates

genuine pack of

XXXX. Batch No.

XXXX Thank you

for verifying your

THANK YOU

http://www.safemedicinesindia.in/