The EU Falsified Medicines Directive (EU FMD) introduced new requirements for hospitals to verify the authenticity of prescription medicines.
A year on and hospitals are working to reduce the cost impacts and starting to leverage significant additional benefits. A new report published by Be4ward, the supply chain transformation consultancy, looks beyond the prevention of falsified medicines to understand what other benefits can be gained in the hospital setting.
Why the EU FMD was introduced
Fake medicines are often perceived to be an issue primarily affecting developing countries. While this is true, it is easy to overlook the very real threat that Europe is facing from falsified products. We only need to consider what has occurred over the past six months during the COVID outbreak and we see an influx of fake PPE and medicines onto the market. Between 2013-2017 there were 400 incidents of falsification reported in the EU and, following an Interpol operation in 2017, nearly €7 million medicines were seized at the EU border.
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