A qualitative exploration of counterfeit, substandard, spurious, and adulterated drugs in Pakistan: A perspective of drug law experts

The issue of quality of medicine is a worldwide phenomenon and counterfeit, substandard, spurious, and adulterated (CSSA) drugs are a substantial threat to public health. This issue is rampant in the context of low-middle-income countries such as Pakistan. The current study involved a phenomenology-...

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Published in:PloS one Vol. 20; no. 4; p. e0322188
Main Authors: Butt, Farooq Bashir, Saeed, Hamid, Mubarak, Zobia, Raza, Syed Atif, Malik, Usman Rashid, Hashmi, Furqan Khurshid
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Public Library of Science 24.04.2025
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:
Analysis
Consumers
Control boards
Corruption
Counterfeit
Counterfeit Drugs
Counterfeiting
Data analysis
Data collection
Drug Contamination - legislation & jurisprudence
Drug policy
Drug stores
Drug testing
Drugs
Generic products
Health risks
Humans
Ingredients
Interviews
Legislation
Legislation, Drug
Male
Mandatory drug testing
Medicine and Health Sciences
Methods
Pakistan
People and Places
Pharmaceutical industry
Pharmacists
Phenomenology
Practice
Public health
Public sector
Qualitative Research
Quality Control
Sampling techniques
Social Sciences
Substandard Drugs
Supply chains
Testing laboratories
Wholesalers
Pakistan
United States > US
Lahore Pakistan
ISSN:1932-6203, 1932-6203
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The issue of quality of medicine is a worldwide phenomenon and counterfeit, substandard, spurious, and adulterated (CSSA) drugs are a substantial threat to public health. This issue is rampant in the context of low-middle-income countries such as Pakistan. The current study involved a phenomenology-based qualitative approach to explore these drugs' perception, knowledge, practice, and issues in combating this menace. A semi-structured interview guide was developed. Eleven drug law experts were interviewed through a purposive sampling technique. All interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using a framework analysis approach, yielding seven distinct themes. The results showed that CSSA drugs are a serious public health threat and drug law experts confirmed its prevalence in the market. They indicated shortcomings in legislation up to the extent of undue amendments, failure to interpret and implement the law by regulators, ineffective law enforcement machinery, the sub-optimum performance of quality control boards, drug testing laboratories, and courts, and the dubious role of rogue middlemen and wholesalers in drug supply chain and corruption were salient issues highlighted. The study revealed that proper drug surveillance, ensuring the presence of a pharmacist, enforcing the law, securing the supply chain, infrastructure for a drug control regime, and training regulators can help tackle this problem.
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Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0322188