Phake: The Deadly World of Falsified and Substandard Medicines - Softcover

This impeccably researched, well-organized book fully addresses the underworld of pharmaceutical counterfeiting and the longitudinal effects of this unsavory commerce. . . .Starting with the dark history of drug safety that had roots in the US, the book makes an impressive case regarding the difficulty/impossibility of tracking and prosecuting drug forgers, and the author provides a reasonable approach for ensuring safety for US products. He addresses the most problematic issues by country, including the intricacies of how each nation polices or ignores drug forgery. Well-designed charts/graphs assist readers to understand the volumes of data Bate has amassed during his travels. Numerous pictures clearly illustrate the difficulty of identifying fake drugs, both for health professionals and consumers. Bate's writing style is scientific and logical, but highly accessible to curious readers. He offers an honest critique of the pharmaceutical business, sharing his extraordinary insight and analysis of current drug counterfeiting issues and spot-on speculation of what the future holds for this problem. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; general readers. * CHOICE * No scientific knowledge is necessary to understand and appreciate the problems that Bate addresses. Anyone concerned about the quality of prescription medications will find this book of interest. * Library Journal * Bate's work is more than a detailed analysis; it is also a revelatory first-hand account of the counterfeit drug trade. * Forbes *

Roger Bate has spent years on the trail of counterfeit medicines in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, learning the anatomy of a nebulous, far-reaching black market that has resulted in countless deaths and injuries around the world. Phake: The Deadly World of Falsified and Substandard Medicines is the culmination of Bate's research and travels--both a fascinating firsthand account of the counterfeit drug trade and an incisive policy analysis with important ramifications for decision makers in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the international World Health Organization.