460 drugs on Belgian market deemed ineffective or dangerous

More than one in 10 pharmaceutical drugs available on the Belgian market lack efficacy or are even dangerous for the patient. These are the results revealed by the consumers' organisation Test-Aankoop after its recent evaluation of 4,000 drugs (of some 7,000 available on the Belgian market).

The study revealed that 460, or 12% of the tested pharmaceuticals do not do what they say they should. More noteworthy: 3% of products cause more harm than good because of negative or dangerous side-effects.

“We need to advise patients to stop using these 113 products immediately and remove them from the market,” said Test-Aankoop Health Co-ordinator Martine Van Hecke.

Dr Marc Bogaert of Ghent University agrees that many pharmaceuticals currently on the market should be removed. "It's above all older drugs that entered the market a long time ago when the criteria was less strict. This does not mean all older drugs are bad, but that consideration needs to made if older, less efficient drugs cannot be replaced by better, more current alternatives.”  

Catherine Rutten, CEO of the pharmaceutical industry body Pharma.be, emphasises that patient safety is the sector’s number one priority. "Drugs are not candy. All parties involved must take their responsibilities.” The body says that any drug must first pass a series of controls carried out by the European Medecines Agency and the Federal Agency for Medecine and Health Products before entering the market.