Adverse effects of counterfeit drugs on public health

In the last decades, growing number of counterfeit pharmaceuticals involve to global pharmaceutical market. The counterfeited drugs are substandard, poor quality copies of original products, so they pose a global and serious health risk which can lead to resistance to treatment, illness, disability and even death. Recently in Turkey, a counterfeit cancer drug has been realized from its package and it was reported that 95 patients did not get the treatment they supposed. Moreover, it is understood that, they are marketed not even in Turkey but also to the global market. Counterfeiting is a crime and a problem of all countries even developed or underdeveloped. Pharmacist and all healthcare professionals should be knowledgeable and vigilant on the importance of the adverse effects of counterfeited drugs. In this review, we have tried to draw attention to counterfeit drugs and their adverse effects on public health