This post was written by Paul Sheives.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has entered into a collaborative agreement with the World Health Organization (WHO) in an effort to support the development of a global surveillance and monitoring system for combating counterfeit medicines and breaches in the supply chain. The collaboration will run one to four years, and the FDA will dedicate funding of $960,500 in year one, and $847,500 in each subsequent year for this project. Through this collaboration, FDA intends to (1) support WHO in a technical capacity with data collection among member states; (2) work with member states to develop the necessary processes, protocols and commitment to collect and share data, and apply this data to prevent and address the incidence of counterfeit medicines and risks within supply chains; (3) develop consistent terminology regarding counterfeit medicines; and (4) promote the publication of peer-reviewed articles and studies addressing counterfeit drugs and the associated risks.