Patient\nsafety has always been the top priority both for the legislator and for the\nresearch-based pharmaceutical industry. In Switzerland, Swissmedic, the Swiss\nAgency for Therapeutic Products, is responsible for the safety of therapeutic\nproducts and enforcement of the Therapeutic Products Act (TPA). The Therapeutic\nProducts Act requires anyone who handles medicinal products to adopt all the\nmeasures commensurate with the state of science and technology to ensure that\nthe health of humans and animals is not endangered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Companies\nthat manufacture or distribute medicinal products in Switzerland (including\nimport, wholesale, export and foreign trade activities) require an\nestablishment licence from Swissmedic. An establishment licence is issued by\nSwissmedic following a successful inspection. Switzerland is the only country\nthat requires a licence to be held for trade in medicinal products outside the country.\nThe regulations governing the trade in medicinal products are even stricter\nwithin the country. As a result, according to Swissmedic, counterfeit medicines\nhave never been found in the official distribution channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nTherapeutic Products Act authorises Swissmedic to confiscate, impound or\ndestroy therapeutic products that are harmful to health or not compliant with\nthe law. Furthermore, Swissmedic can forbid and prosecute the sale,\ndistribution, import, export and trade in such products in other countries.\nNowadays, it is a punishable offence to endanger people\u2019s health by failing to\ntake the necessary care when handling medicinal products, and to manufacture,\nplace on the market, prescribe, import, export or trade outside Switzerland in\nmedicinal products without an authorisation or a licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nrevised Therapeutic Products Act that came into force at the start of 2019\nbrings about further improvements to the safety of medicines. The enforcement\nauthorities are no longer required to prove that the health of patients could\nbe endangered if they suspect that a medicine is counterfeit. This is almost\nimpossible to prove. In many cases the patients are unknown, or doctors are\nrequired to maintain medical confidentiality. Today the potential endangerment\nof health is a punishable offence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\nis unfortunately no absolute protection against counterfeit medicines and\nmisuse. Because of the potentially serious health implications, a major effort\nis made both internationally and in Switzerland to prevent the manufacture and\ndistribution of unsafe or counterfeit medicines. A package of measures and\nprecautions is ultimately in place with the aim of ensuring the safety of\nmedicines in Switzerland. These include the authorisation of medicinal products\nby Swissmedic and the fight against counterfeiting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Patient safety has always been the top priority both for the legislator and for the research-based pharmaceutical industry. In Switzerland, Swissmedic, the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products, is responsible for the safety of therapeutic products and enforcement of the Therapeutic Products Act (TPA). The Therapeutic Products Act requires anyone who handles medicinal products to adopt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14765,"parent":4208,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/unterthema.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4130","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n