Ogtay Shiraliyev, Azerbaijan's Health Minister, has expressed a hope that by passing the law on medicines and introducing criminal penalty for the production and sale of false and pirated medicals will improve Azerbaijan's pharmaceutical market, Trend reports.
According to Shiraliyev, the Ministry has always had to deal with false and pirated chemicals. Last week an international conference was held in Baku. During the event, Michelle Daneau, the Secretary General of the World Customs Organization (WCO), sadly noted that the World market was over-flooded with medical counterfeits. He said that it was such a global misfortune as AIDS and bird flu, and that no country can solve this problem alone, noted the Minister.
The Centre for Innovations and Procurement of the Azerbaijan Health Ministry revealed 154 types of false and pirated medicines in 2006. Forty-four drugstores and chemists have been closed due to spot-checks and raids, which is ongoing.