Bangladesh’s pharmaceutical market is facing a severe crisis as the circulation of counterfeit, adulterated, and substandard medicines continues to rise alarmingly. While soaring prices already burden patients, fake drugs are further endangering lives across both urban and rural areas.

Doctors report that certain essential medicines—particularly albumin injections, antibiotics, gastric drugs, and anesthetics—have become so widely counterfeited that their use has been reduced or completely discontinued in some hospitals. In several cases, fake medicines have led to severe complications and even deaths.

A study published in the international journal Nature revealed that nearly 10 percent of antibiotics sold in Dhaka are counterfeit or substandard. Outside the capital, the situation is worse, with around 20 percent of tested samples found to be fake or of poor quality. Researchers even discovered flour and semolina used as active ingredients in some counterfeit drugs.

Despite the government introducing a law in 2023 allowing life imprisonment for producing or selling fake medicines, no such punishment has been enforced so far. Weak enforcement and inadequate monitoring have allowed illegal networks to flourish, spreading fake drugs through pharmacies, online platforms, and courier services nationwide.

Public health experts warn that counterfeit medicines not only fail to cure diseases but also pose long-term health risks and contribute to preventable deaths. They describe the unchecked spread of fake drugs as a serious national health threat and urge immediate, strict government action.