Event on counterfeits

The Stockholm Network organised a seminar in partnership with EVA on “Are your medicines safe? – Counterfeits, intellectual property and the future of innovation”.

Speakers included Peter J. Pitts, Director, Center of Medicines in the Public Interest, Dr. Meir P. Pugatch, Senior Lecturer, University of Haifa, and Director of Research, Stockholm Network, and Suvi-Anne Siimes, Director General, Pharma Industry Finland.

Counterfeit medicines are becoming ever more common in the world. Yet few of us expect the medicines we take to be fake or think about the wider economic context in which their daily dose came to be developed or produced. Current developments affecting the future of pharmaceutical intellectual property rights (IPRs) are likely to have significant implications for the rate of innovation and competitiveness of the Finnish economy, as well as potentially affecting the health safety of Finnish patients. The business of creating, distributing and selling counterfeits is an unregulated, criminal and growing part of the global economy, and not confined only to developing countries. Policymakers are now making difficult policy choices concerning the scope and level of protection of IPRs of pharmaceutical products which will have long-term consequences for Finland as a whole. What are the next steps for policymakers and what are the wider consequences for patients and citizens?

The Stockholm Network is the leading pan-European think tank network, bringing together more than 130 market-oriented think tanks from across Europe and seeking to work with Europe’s brightest policymakers and thinkers.