By: Drew Perry

Counterfeit pharmaceutical drugs are fraudulently produced or mislabeled medicines purchased by consumers who believe them to be legitimate

In some countries, counterfeit prescription drugs comprise as much as 70 percent of the drug supply and have been responsible for thousands of deaths in some of the world's most impoverished nations, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In most of the world's developed countries, however, effective regulatory systems and market controls cause an extremely low proportion of counterfeit drugs, usually below 1 percent. Even so, patients in developed countries can be affected by counterfeit drugs, and deaths linked to them occur every year in the U.S. and Western Europe—and even more often in South America, Asia, and Africa

 Buy drugs only from trusted retailers  Avoid non-regulated online pharmacies  While traveling take your medications with you and avoid purchasing drugs there  One of the best things you can do, experts say, is to educate yourself about the drugs you take.

A WHO study revealed that nearly one-half (48.7%) of the documented cases of drug counterfeiting were reported in developing countries of the Western Pacific (China, the Philippines, and Vietnam), followed by developing countries grouped within WHO's Regional Office for Africa, with 18.7%. The industrialized areas of WHO's Regional Office for Europe came in third, with 13.6% of cases being reported. WHO has estimated that 10% of global pharmaceutical commerce, or $21 billion, involves counterfeit drugs.

 What country is mostly affected by counterfeit drugs?  What are counterfeit medicines?  How are the counterfeit drugs being distributed?

1.) Africa is one of the most countries that has the most counterfeit drugs being produced. 2.) Counterfeit medicines are drugs that may not be what they are said to be. 3.) Well most people buy their drugs online, but most websites are fake.

  09/cnbc-drugs/ /1 09/cnbc-drugs/ /1      en.wikipedia.org   abcnews.go.com