Counterfeit Medication in the Arabian Gulf: Impact, Solutions, and the Relationship to Free Trading Zones (2014)

Counterfeit medications pose a serious health hazard, while unwary individual may unknowingly go untreated or even be poisoned by what they assume to be medication. While the rise in internet technology and perfected manufacturing methods aids the massive-scale manufacturing and global sale problems, of particular concern is the establishment of free trading zones which allow for unchecked distribution of large shipments of fraudulent medication. With existing trading zones in conjunction with the recently evolved Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA,) the Arabian Gulf, conveniently located near China (the most notorious for counterfeit manufacturing,) has allowed for counterfeit operations to run rampant and freely. Though some seizures have been made since the establishments of free trading, large increases in counterfeit remain an issue while large and continually rising percentages of fraudulent drugs are estimated by many organisations.

The following is a study of the impact of the counterfeit drug problem with a specific focus on the Arabian Gulf and its free trading areas. Numerous retailers of pharmaceuticals were surveyed in attempt to see the impact on a large quantity of common operations affecting common citizens, while governmental and other organisational groups were researched in attempt to gain more insight into the impact, solutions, and relationship of counterfeiting to free trading zones.

This study ultimately concludes that the impact of counterfeiting is large, effecting all pharmaceutical organisations while smaller companies are particularly vulnerable. Free trading zones have been found to be directly proportional in growth with the increasing number of counterfeit cases and the existence of counterfeit drugs, while many organisations are actively seeking solutions to this problem. While in all cases the major solutions to this issue are increase quality control and supervision by regulatory organisations, the main barriers to these solutions are funding and effective legislation. Thus, these are areas for further research.

• 10,000 words – 36 pages in length
• Excellent use of literature
• Excellent analysis of subject area
• Well written throughout
• Includes questionnaire
• Ideal for business and economics students

1: Introduction
Origins and scale of global drug counterfeiting
Current status of drug counterfeiting in the Arabian Gulf
Methods of detecting counterfeit drugs
Primary aim and objective
Statement of research questions
Research limitations

2: Literature Review
Counterfeit and substandard drugs
Underlying causes
Negative impacts
Detection and prevention
Counterfeit drug statistics
Arabian Gulf Activity- reduction
Solutions in fighting counterfeit medicine

3: Research Methods
Primary data source
Secondary data sources
Sample size of primary data source
Methods of data analysis
Pilot Study
Research direction
Questionnaires and distribution methods

4: Analysis
Sample distribution
Hypothesis
Questionnaire results
Secondary data sources

5: Conclusion

6: Further Research

References

Appendices
Questionnaire