Stop useless drugs

Harmful and unnecessary drugs for the Third World

German pharmaceutical companies are among the biggest suppliers of drugs in the Third World. For the fourth time BUKO Pharma-Kampagne has asked experts to evaluate the supply of drugs of German manufacturers to the South. The result of the study: Almost 1000 (39%) out of more than 2.500 tested drugs have to be regarded as irrational according to pharmacological and clinical criteria. Many of these remedies are even dangerous and some of them are forbidden in Germany. The therapeutic use of many of these drugs is not sufficiently proven.
Irrational drugs do not only harm single patients. They waste scarce resources and cause unnecessary costs. This has considerable consequences in particular in the 50 poorest countries in which less than $ 5.00 can be spent for drugs per year and per capita.
Combination drugs containing several active substances account for almost half of all negatively assessed drugs. 70 out of 80 vitamin supplements had to be negatively assessed; mostly they were senseless combinations of vitamins.

But there are even more dangerous combinations: A number of companies offer combinations of pain-killers containing metamizol that can provoke a life-threatening dysfunction of the blood formation (agranolucytosis) as well as a shock. Since 1986 such preparations are forbidden in Germany.
The fact that the supply by the German pharmaceutical industry for serious diseases is extremely poor in the countries examined is particularly regrettable. For example, only 11 antimalarials and 11 remedies against worm diseases were available. And just 2 drugs against AIDS were available.
When comparing 33 German pharmaceutical manufacturers, considerable differences regarding quality of supply were noted. One out of two remedies marketed by Byk Gulden/Altana, Boehringer Ingelheim or Merck KG is irrational, whereas as for Fresenius it is only one out of eight. Three manufacturers are marketing more than half (534) of all negatively assessed drugs (996). Front-runner is the Co. Merck KG with almost 200 irrational drugs, followed closely by sanofi-aventis and Boehringer Ingelheim. Is this all just a problem of the Third World? Not at all! One out of four dubious remedies is also being put on the German market by the same companies.


To download this study, please click here: Data and Facts 2004 [PDF/ 1,4 MB]

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