GPHF NEWS II / 2000
GPHF General Meeting 2000 During its 2000 General Meeting, the German Pharma Health Fund e.V. (GPHF) issued a positive statement on the projects implemented within the past twelve months. All pilot projects aiming at improving the health care in developing countries have been implemented successfully and as scheduled. At the rotational elections, Dr. Werner F. Cermak (Janssen-Cilag), Volker Keidtel (Merck) and Dr Frank Schulze (Sanavita) were newly elected as board members. The presentation of the GPHF-Minilab® at EXPO 2000 was seen as a special honour by the General Meeting. The simple test methods for identifying counterfeited and substandard drug products that have been developed jointly by the GPHF and the Tropenmedizinisches Institut Würzburg (Würzburg Institute of Tropical Medicine) are now available for 20 of the medicinal agents which are most frequently used in the developing countries. As many as 40 of these mobile compact laboratories are currently being used world-wide, some of them within the Roll Back Malaria Programme of the World Health Organisation (WHO). In 1999, an entirely new field of the GPHF activity was the co-ordination of drug donations for acute emergencies and natural disasters. In co-operation with the Federal Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and international relief organisations, badly needed drug products which were provided by GHPH members and which totalled several millions in value were donated to both the victims of the Kosovo conflict and of the earthquake in Turkey. In future, the GPHF will continue to act as a contact agency for relief organisations and ministries. In 2000, the focus of the GPHF project work will once again be on the "GPHF-Minilab" and "drug donations" projects as well as on continuing to intensify the co-operation with the World Health Organisation, the objective being the future implementation of pilot projects where the specific know-how of the research-based pharmaceutical companies may be successfully utilised for improving the health care in developing countries. Three New Members Elected to the Board The board members newly elected by the General Meeting are Dr Werner F. Cermak, Volker Keidtel and Dr Frank Schulze. Dr Cermak is Managing Director of Janssen-Cilag GmbH and a member of the Management Board of VFA. Volker Keidtel is head of the consumer health-care business of Merck KGaA and a member of the company's Pharma Management Board. Dr Frank Schulze represents Sanavita Gesundheitsmittel GmbH & Co. KG on the GPHF Management Board. The three newly elected board members are the successors of Dr Frank-Ulrich Fricke (Novartis), Dr Joachim Moormann (Sanavita) and Patrick Schwarz-Schütte (Schwarz Pharma). Special thanks were expressed to Dr Moormann who had been an active GPHF member since its establishment in 1985, and after having held the treasurer's office for the last four years has now has retired from the Board.
Drug Donations Recently, Caritas International has thanked the GPHF for having contributed to the support of the refugees of the Kosovo conflict. In the past year, the GPHF was in a position to provide Caritas with drugs donated by its members totalling almost DEM 800,000 in value for immediate use in the region afflicted. A feature Caritas emphasised particularly was the high quality and the excellent labelling of the drug products provided by the GPHF. On April 23 and 28, 1999, the drugs donated were airlifted by the Bundeswehr to Tirana (Albania) where delivery was taken by Caritas Albania. They were distributed at 40 health stations looked after by Caritas in Albania. Now, Caritas International has published an impressing document providing evidence of the comprehensive relief measures implemented in the course of the Kosovo conflict. Joint Declaration A joint declaration on the future practice of drug donations is currently being harmonised between Deutsches Rotes Kreuz (German Red Cross), the Deutsche Medikamenten-Hilfswerk action medeor (medeor German Charitable Organisation for Drug Donations), the Deutsches Institut für ärztliche Mission (DIFÄM, German Institute for Medical Missions) and the GPHF. This declaration shall reflect the results of last year's round table discussions of these organisations and is intended to document their joint efforts regarding drug donations in accordance with the WHO's international recommendations. Under the headline "Getting It Right In Germany", the renowned specialised publication Humanitarian Affairs Review, published in Brussels, has now paid tribute to the GPHF commitment in this field on the occasion of an interview with the deputy Chairwomen of the GPHF, Dr Carola Fink-Anthe.
Tremendous Response to Call for Donations This year's call for donations launched by the GPHF has once again resulted in a positive response by its members. Apart from the Verband Forschender Arzneimittelhersteller e.V. (Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies), the following companies have now promised to make a donation and/or have already done so:
The GPHF would like to thank all donors for their generous support.
GPHF Homepage Being Updated The GPHF homepage www.gphf.org will be completely revised and updated in the next few weeks. A particularly interesting new feature on the Internet site will be the GPHF drug donations project.
Counterfeited Drug
Products Even though official figures on this issue are very rarely published, there are quite a few signs that the distribution of counterfeited and substandard drug products is increasing worldwide. In the past few months, the international press has reported on several occasions on this alarming subject. Apart from Africa, the Asian countries seem to be affected most. In November 1999, the Africa Health magazine reported that Malawi was literally inundated by counterfeited drug products. Due to missing controls, unscrupulous dealers have little trouble selling their counterfeits to the population direct. The situation in large parts of Asia hardly seems any better. There are reports from Tadzhikistan according to which illegal production facilities make drug products of doubtful quality on a large scale without the authorities feeling compelled to stop these activities. However, China and India are affected, too. In July 1999, the South China Morning Post revealed the case of a counterfeited and completely ineffective medicine for apoplexia patients. Private investigators discovered more than 340,000 counterfeited boxes of the alleged medicine. The situation on the Indian subcontinent is quite similar. In May 1999, the Times of India reported that in the state of Bihar alone, as many as 20 to 25 percent of all drug products sold are distributed through the black market. Thus the health risk resulting from counterfeited or substandard drug products must be considered to be high. The theft of a full truck load of Viagra pills in the Netherlands or the case of a German Internet supplier offering his customers Viagra pills which turned out to be coloured peppermint pills of the Fisherman's Friend brand show that even Europe is not quite free from these criminal dealings. Incidentally, four of these peppermints pills cost DEM 118.50. GPHF-Minilab for India In the meantime, the first GPHF Minilab has been sent off to India. The simple test system for identifying counterfeited and substandard drug products has been requested by the Komitee Ärzte für die Dritte Welt e.V. (Physicians for the Third World Committee). In future, they are to make a valuable contribution to a health project which is responsible for ensuring basic health care services for six million people. For the current year, the GPHF has scheduled quite a number of presentations of the Minilab. Apart from being shown at EXPO 2000, these test methods will be demonstrated at the "Health Sponsoring" symposium of the Stiftung Immunität und Umwelt (Immunity and Environment Foundation) in May in Berlin, during a conference of the German-Ghanaian Business Association, during the annual meeting of the Drug Information Association (DIA) in June in San Diego and in September in Vienna on the occasion of a congress of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP).
What is the precise mission of... The Christoffel-Blindenmission e.V. (CBM, Christoffel Mission for the Blind) which celebrated its 90th anniversary in 1998, is an independent charitable organisation composed of Christians of various denominations. They are linked by their common objective to help the blind and people with other disabilities in the so-called "Third World" - irrespective of nation, race, sex or religion. One focal point of the CMB's activity is to prevent and cure blindness. More than 1,000 Projects In 1998 alone, more than 9 million people suffering from ophthalmic diseases were examined, treated and, whenever necessary, subjected to surgery within the scope of the CBM campaign "Save People's Eyesight!" In total, this interdenominational organisation sponsored more than 1,000 development projects in 109 countries - most of them in the "Third World": hospitals with ophthalmology departments, mobile ophthalmology units, rural health care and rehabilitation centres, schools and vocational training facilities. In its capacity as a service provider, CBM has defined its task as follows: providing professional advice, financial support and human resources to the local churches to put them in a position to care for their destitute compatriots. Meanwhile, the CMB co-operates with almost 680 partners world-wide. The approximate number of 130 ophthalmologists, nurses, specialised pedagogues, physiotherapists, rehabilitation experts and project managers and advisers working onsite see the training of local staff as their primary task, following their motto of ‘training hundreds to cure hundreds of thousands’. Via the partner organisations, the salaries and other expenditures for the work of the almost 10,000 local experts are funded by the CMB. "VISION 2020" In 1999, the CBM, other relief organisations and the World Health Organisation initiated "VISION 2020: The Right to Eyesight" - a world-wide campaign for preventing avoidable blindness until the year 2020. This project is the first one to effectively combine the forces of all relief organisations, UN organisations, governments and individuals involved in fighting blindness in order to overcome avoidable and curable blindness. The services provided on a world-wide level by the CMB are primarily funded by donations, inheritances and legacies. In Germany alone, several hundred thousands of CBM supporters donated or bequeathed approximately DEM 84 million in 1998. Contact:
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