[European Network of Official Medicines Control Laboratories : International OMCL Working Group Combating Counterfeit and other Illegal Medicines].

Official medicines control laboratories (OMCLs) have for a long time been involved in testing activities related to suspected counterfeit or other illegal medicines in a number of European countries in support of national enforcement authorities. With the secretarial support of the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM), from 2005 onwards, the General European OMCL Network (GEON) has gradually introduced for its members tailored tools, joint test programmes and information/discussion platforms in the field of falsified medicines testing. Since 2011 a dedicated OMCL working group (OMCL Counterfeit/Illegal Medicines Working Group) has taken the lead in coordinating the different activities, which range from training programmes, symposia and focus topics at annual meetings to the development and improvement of databases and the drafting of common documents. The overall goal of these activities is to share know-how, to establish and identify centres of expertise, to further develop competencies in the field of analysis of falsified medicines, to challenge the competency of OMCLs in the testing of unknown samples, to raise awareness of the network and to leverage synergies in particular with respect to this field of expertise. All these measures aim at strengthening the network in the combat against falsified medicines, enlarging the field of activities of the OMCLs in this area and improving the hit rate with respect to the identification of adulterations.