The pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline Limited, on Tuesday launched an SMS platform dubbed Hakikisha Dawa, verify drugs, to strengthen the fight against counterfeit medicine in Kenya.

Senior executives at GlaxoSmithKline revealed that the 2.5 million dollar program will be implemented in Kenya for three years and subsequent launches will follow in the entire east African region.

"Patients will be able to use SMS service to verify the quality and safety of medicine. The initiative will boost the fight against counterfeit drugs that have compromised healthcare and are a drain to the economy," said John Musungu, Managing Director of GlaxoSmithKline, East Africa.

He told a media briefing that British pharmaceutical company has channeled significant investments towards research and development on drugs.

Pharmaceutical companies have partnered with government agencies to fight counterfeit medicine at all value chains. Musunga revealed that Kenya loses an estimated 500 million dollars annually due to proliferation of fake drugs in the market.

"Studies have indicated that 30 percent of medicines in Africa countries including Kenya are counterfeit and the menace is growing while detection methods are either too slow or expensive," Musunga said.

He disclosed that the most counterfeited drugs are anti- malarials, antibiotics and pain killers. Consumer safety informed the rolling out of an SMS platform to verify the origin, authenticity and efficacy of drugs.

GlaxoSmithKline commissioned a consumer survey to gauge the level of public awareness on the magnitude of counterfeit drugs.

"Consumers raised concern on quality of drugs but majority regretted that they lacked the means to verify and report on any hiccup. Survey revealed that 50 percent of patients are keen to use an SMS platform to ascertain the quality of drugs," said Musungu.

He stressed that the SMS based platform will succeed in Kenya where 20 million people own a mobile phone.

The Kenyan government has joined forces with the private sector and consumer lobby groups to combat the menace of counterfeit drugs.

According to the CEO, Kenyatta National Hospital, Richard Lesiyampe, health facilities are grappling with an influx of counterfeit drugs due to regulatory lapses and ignorance.

"Counterfeit drugs undermine quality healthcare and expose patients to life threatening harm," Lesiyampe said.

He told Xinhua that the ministries of health have partnered with other government agencies to strengthen vigilance and minimize the influx of fake drugs in the market.

"The Kenya food and drugs authority to be established next year will boost the fight against fake products including drugs," said Lesiyampe. Endi

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