‘Bad medicines’: The fight to stamp out substandard and falsified medicines in the Indo-Pacific

What are ‘bad medicines’? How do they make it onto our shelves? And what is being done to address substandard and falsified medicines in the Indo-Pacific? 

In this week’s episode, we delve into the ongoing problem of ‘bad medicines’, otherwise known as substandard and falsified medicines. Our guest is Dr. Paul Huleatt, strategic partnerships and programme implementation lead at the international regulatory branch of the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

Based in Singapore, Dr Huleatt works closely with regulators across the Indo-Pacific on a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade-funded regulatory strengthening programme. Paul also acts as the Australian Chair of the Steering Committee for the World Health Organization's Member State Mechanism on substandard and falsified medicines.

In this episode we discuss: 

• what ‘bad medicines’ are, how they are created, and the history of this issue that dates back 100 years 
• the systems that are in place to detect and prevent bad medicines 
• how the Australian Government’s Pacific Medicines Testing Program is working to detect and prevent bad medicines 
• how the Indo-Pacific Regulatory Strengthening Program is building capacity with regulatory authorities in the Indo Pacific and providing regulatory support to countries that don't have regulatory authorities
• what’s next in the fight against substandard and falsified medicines in the Indo-Pacific

You can find out more about the WHO Member State Mechanism on Substandard and Falsified Medical Products here: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-MVP-EMP-SAV-2019.04

A link to a news article on the case study in Indonesia that is discussed in the podcast is here: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/indonesia-revokes-firms-fever-syrup-licences-amid-probe-into-150-deaths-2022-10-31/

We encourage you to join the conversation and follow Australia's Ambassador for Regional Health Security Dr Stephanie Williams at @AusAmbRHS.