USA: when is a product suspicious, when is it illegitimate?
Recommendation

Tuesday, 8 June 2027 13.00 - 16.00 h
The EMA Guidance on Medicine Shortages and Availability Issues and the European Shortages Monitoring Platform (ESMP)
In March 2018, the FDA published their draft guidance "Definitions of Suspect Product and Illegitimate Product for Verification Obligations Under the Drug Supply Chain Security Act".
The terms "suspect product" and "illegitimate product" are both defined within the US law for the safety of the drug supply chain. The FDA now published this guideline to further define and illustrate the two terms. The goal is to make sure that all partners involved in the trade in pharmaceutical products know these terms so that they can meet the obligations of verification and notification.
Trade partners in the distribution of medicines must prepare for the threat of suspicious or illegitimate medicinal products. The guideline is supposed to help the industry in identifying those products. All trade partners are asked to initiate specific actions if such products turn up.
The FDA assumes that trade partners will be faced with the four following situations:
a. Counterfeits
b. Diverted products
c. Fraudulent transactions
d. Products unfit for distribution
Fore more information please also see the complete FDA draft guidance "Definitions of Suspect Product and Illegitimate Product for Verification Obligations Under the Drug Supply Chain Security Act".
Related GMP News
11.08.2026Q&A Version 22 on Safety Features for Medicinal Products
31.07.2024Report on Trends in the Falsification of Medicines
11.06.2024Serialization - Version 21 of the Q&As on Safety Features
17.01.2024Ozempic Falsification also in the US

