IP Key SEA launched #YourHealthisPriceless campaign to counter counterfeit medicines

On 11 September 2020, the EU-funded project IP Key South-East Asia (SEA) launched the #YourHealthisPriceless campaign to encourage consumers to buy pharmaceutical products from verified sellers and/or legitimate sources and to be careful when being approached by counterfeiters in online and offline environments. The campaign calls for the audience to share their experiences of counterfeit pharmaceutical products on their social media profiles and provide relevant information on the danger of counterfeit products from this sector.

‘#YourHealthisPriceless campaign emphasizes the EU mission through IP Key SEA project in raising awareness on IP rights on social media. We also believe that the stories shared will help envisage the current situation and encourage customers to be fully aware of the product’s authenticity and buy from legitimate sources’, said Tiago Guerreiro, IP Key SEA project leader.

The campaign began with concerns about the harm that counterfeit medicines can cause to consumers’ health and wellbeing, international trade, and the market. On the one hand, consumers may become vulnerable to the adverse effects of these products on their health or the possible failure to treat diseases. On the other hand, the global trade in counterfeit medicines may loom large and harm the supply chain.

‘The EU is supporting Thailand and ASEAN regional approach and initiatives for combatting substandard and falsified medicines. Harmonized pan-ASEAN safety and control measures allowing easier identification of counterfeit medicines, and improving verification and controls at borders, as well as a system enabling patients to identify legally operating online pharmacies, would certainly help limiting the commerce of these dangerous products’, stated Laurent Lourdais, counsellor at the Delegation of the European Union to Thailand.

The full press release is accessible here.