Imagine having a chronic disease that is treatable through a prescription drug, or even something than can be purchased over the counter. Not hard to do.

Now imagine that the medicine you bought—either online or in a store—is a fake drug whose shape, color, packaging, and even markings, look like the real thing. But rather than containing the active ingredients that are critical to treating your condition, this pill contains harmless talcum powder or worse…toxic materials that kill you.

It is stories like these—stories from Vancouver and Haiti, to Nigeria and India—that we at the Global IP Center have heard many times; yet we still cringe with each new tragedy. So how do we solve this problem?

Let’s start with what we know. We know that the lifesaving drugs we rely on today are the result of hundreds of millions of dollars of research and development, and years of hard work and effort, by some of the world’s best minds. We also know that companies and individuals invest these resources because they know that strong IP laws, based on longstanding international rights and norms, and supported by a credible legal and enforcement system, will protect their innovations—their ideas—from theft. 

Earlier today, the Global IP Center hosted its latest Speaker Series event on this very topic with participation from speakers representing a variety of experiences, industries, and policy perspectives. The event kicked off with a presentation by Dr. Roger Bate of the American Enterprise Institute, a well-known and established scholar who shared his latest paper detailing the growing problem of substandard and counterfeit drugs in India and the broader developing world.

Dr. Bate’s presentation was followed by a panel discussion that included Ashifi Gogo of Sproxil, Inc., Dr. Vishal Patel of the U.S. Department of State, and Scott LaGanga of the Partnership for Safe Medicines (pictured below in respective order.) Representing various backgrounds and experiences, the panelists all emphasized the strong need to improve the protection and enforcement of IP rights in order to curtail the growing tide of counterfeit drugs.

And that is precisely what we must and will do. The Obama Administration has a prime opportunity this summer to enhance our enforcement tools and efforts by developing a comprehensive and effective—and first ever—National IP Enforcement Strategy as mandated by the bipartisan 2008 PRO-IP Act. By enhancing our enforcement resources, efforts, and coordination across the U.S. government—and with other countries for that matter—to go after counterfeiters and others who steal America’s IP, this government-wide plan should not only defend Americans’ ingenuity and hard work, it will also help protect consumers, create jobs, and grow our economy. As we learned today, counterfeiters can kill with impunity; we can’t afford to tolerate this crime any longer.