About Pharmaceutical Security Institute

About PSI

The Challenge of Counterfeit Pharmaceuticals

On a daily basis, many individuals unknowingly risk death or serious injury to their health by taking counterfeit pharmaceuticals. Counterfeit products range from drugs with no active ingredients to those with dangerous impurities. Counterfeit pharmaceuticals represent a significant threat to the health of people around the world.

Generally, counterfeiting groups thrive in countries where the anti-counterfeiting laws are weak; the drug regulatory agencies are under funded and under staffed; and legal sanctions are ineffective. These illegal organizations counterfeit branded, generic and over-the-counter drugs.
In assessing these illegal operations, it became clear that the counterfeiters often copied pharmaceutical products of many manufacturers and there was a need to improve information sharing.

One Innovative Response

To meet this need, in 2002, the Security Directors from fourteen major pharmaceutical companies established the Pharmaceutical Security Institute as a not-for-profit corporation based in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Working with its members PSI has developed improved systems to identify the extent of the problem and to assist in coordinating international inquiries.
Over the years, PSI membership has grown to include twenty-one pharmaceutical manufacturers from many nations. The Institute has also established branch offices in London.

PSI maintains a close affiliation with the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA). The IFPMA Director-General serves as the PSI President.

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