Counterfeit Products
- The use of color shift ink on Abbott’s product packaging helps deter counterfeiting due to the difficulty in reproducing its effects.
With Abbott's help, authorities conducted 233 raids, made 244 arrests and obtained 94 convictions of individuals involved in the counterfeiting or theft of our products.
According to the World Health Organization, the prevalence of counterfeit medicines ranges from less than 1 percent in developed countries, to more than 10 percent in developing countries.
The safety and integrity of Abbott products is our highest priority, and we take the threat posed to public health by counterfeit products very seriously. Our Global Product Protection department works to reduce the amount of counterfeit copies of Abbott products entering the market. In 2007, our activities included:
Securing Our Supply Chain
We audited 18 wholesalers in the United States for compliance with our Exclusive Sourcing Agreement, which requires wholesalers to purchase our products directly from Abbott and to sell only to authorized end users. We also expanded implementation of these agreements in Latin America and Asia and conducted supply chain reviews with our operations in Peru, Chile and Thailand.
Disrupting Criminal Organizations
Authorities led more than 150 raids, executed 125 arrests, and obtained 80 indictments and 40 convictions of individuals involving counterfeiting, illegal diversion or theft of Abbott products. Additionally, we conducted random purchases of various Abbott products in 30 countries to determine the level of counterfeiting and/or diversion. Some highlights of these activities include:
- In the United States, we recovered more than $3 million worth of our diabetes test strips and glucose meters that had been stolen in 2005.
- In Taiwan, authorities conducted a raid and seized nearly 300,000 capsules of counterfeit Reductil. Nearly 150 kilos of related raw material, machinery and packaging material were also recovered during the retrieval, as well as products from other pharmaceutical companies. Four individuals were arrested as part of this action.
- In Ecuador, after an investigation of counterfeit Dayamineral being sold in the marketplace, nine raids took place, resulting in the seizure of 626 bottles of product and 5,000 counterfeit labels. One arrest was made.
- Working in concert, U.S., U.K. and Hong Kong law enforcement authorities arrested a Shanghai-based wholesaler of counterfeit pharmaceuticals for worldwide trafficking of counterfeit Reductil and other products.
- In Brooklyn, New York, we identified and suspended a customer that was reselling diagnostic products to an unauthorized wholesaler.
Ensuring Our Ability to Authenticate
Authentication of our products is a key deterrent to counterfeiters. Our packaging strategy is to implement visible and non-visible security features on various packaging materials, on many of our existing products as well as on new products, as part of the research and development process. These security features facilitate authentication of Abbott products when suspected counterfeits are sent to our regional testing centers.
