India combats confusion over counterfeit drugs.

India, the leading supplier of low-cost generic drugs to Africa, has begun fi ghting back to counter the confusion surrounding counterfeit drugs in the region. A raft of new and proposed anti-counterfeit laws could potentially deprive Africa of aff ordable, essential medicines. The immediate cause of concern is Kenya’s Anti-Counterfeit Act 2008, which came into eff ect in July, 2009. The new law, which ostensibly seeks to clamp down on fake products, blurs the distinctions between generic, substandard, and counterfeit drugs, argue critics, including Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). MSF depends mostly on low-cost generic versions of essential medicines to treat patients around the world. “The defi nition of counterfeits in Section 2 of the new Kenyan law (Anti-Counterfeit Act, 2008) can be interpreted to refer to generics as counterfeits as they are considered to be substantially similar goods”, Allan Maleche, a lawyer and member of Kenya Ethical Legal Network on HIV and AIDS told The Lancet. Kenya’s new law could become a template for other countries in east Africa. The draft east African policy on anti-counterfeits and anti-piracy has provisions similar to the Kenyan legislation with regard to generics; Uganda has a draft Anti-Counterfeit Goods Bill; and Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi are discussing these issues. India has asked Kenya to make changes to its anti-counterfeit law passed last year that could make generic drugs exported by Indian companies into the country illegal.