A cross-sectional study on substandard and falsified medicines (fake or counterfeit drugs) in UK pharmacies during the COVID-19 pandemic

Figures & data

Table 1. Participant characteristics.

	Frequency	Percent	P-value
Gender			Chi-Square <0.001; overwhelmingly male
Male	131	63.0
Female	64	30.8
Prefer not to say	7	3.4
Prefer to self-describe	1	0.5
How many years have you been a registered pharmacist?			Chi-Square <0.001
Unanswered	4	1.9
0–5	35	16.8
6–10	28	13.5
11–15	33	15.9
16–20	17	8.2
20+	91	43.8	Overwhelmingly well experienced
What type of pharmacy do you work in?			Binomial 0.181 Retain the null. i.e. even distribution between independent and chain pharmacies
Unanswered	6	2.9
Independent	111	53.4
Chain	91	43.8
What are your current working hours per week as a pharmacist (excluding lunch)?			Chi-Square <0.001
Unanswered	4	1.9
16–24	3	1.4
25–34	20	9.6
35–44	102	49.0	Full-time workers
45–54	62	29.8
55+	17	8.2
Have you or your patients ever identified substandard and falsified (SF) medicines? (Q7)			Binomial <0.001. Overwhelmingly not encountering SFs
Yes	7	3.4
No	201	96.6
If so, did you inform the Medicines Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)? (Q7A)			Binomial <0.001
Unanswered	154	74.0
Yes	12	5.8
No	42	20.2

Figure 1. Self-efficacy scale for community pharmacists about their own and other pharmacists’ ability to identify and manage SFs.

Figure 2. Major themes on how can falsified medicines reaching the public be reduced.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics of respondent within 20-minute walk time. Standard deviation (STD), currency represented in Great British Pounds (GBP), and quintiles are 1/5 segments of the population.

	All respondents (n = 205)		All those who detected SFs (n = 7)
Descriptive Statistics	Mean	STD	Mean	STD
2020 Purchasing Power
2020 Purchasing Power Per Capita	£18,041.43	£5,131.44	£14,570.71	£3,201.28
2020 Purchasing Power Index	96	27	77	17
2020 Purchasing Power Total	£370,904,644.40	£460,734,194.40	£209,621,948.70	£114,787,708.90
Households income by quintiles
2020 HHs 1st Quintile (Below 19,706 GBP)	1800	1464	1741	907
2020 HHs 2nd Quintile (19,706 to 28,816 GBP)	1703	1309	1775	984
2020 HHs 3rd Quintile (28,817 to 38,750 GBP)	1631	1255	1344	657
2020 HHs 4th Quintile (38,751 to 55,033 GBP)	1642	1619	1019	648
2020 HHs 5th Quintile (55,034 GBP and above)	1818	3312	665	489
Education qualifications of individuals above the age of 16 years
2020 Pop16+ Edu No Qualifications	3410	2601	3571	1721
2020 Pop16 Edu Level 1 Qualifications	1925	1363	1585	697
2020 Pop16 Edu Level 2 Qualifications	2115	1419	1665	725
2020 Pop16 Edu Level 3 Qualifications	2040	2057	1600	1426
2020 Pop16 Edu Level 4 Qualifications Above	4510	5935	2124	1486
2020 Pop16 Edu Full-Time Students	1918	3230	1380	1779
Population structure
Total Population	19,674	17,659	14,933	7685
Total Households	8594	7470	6546	3275
Male Population	9945	9207	7590	4209
Female Population	9729	8483	7343	3507
2020 Total Population Age 60+	3673	2341	2911	1131
2020 Total Population Age 0–14	3526	3268	2834	1451
2020 Average Household Size	2	0	2	0
2019 Unemployed Population	462	543	358	332
2020 Marital Status Single	8743	10,458	6372	4507
2020 Marital Status Divorced	1669	1247	1317	639
2020 Marital Status Married	8111	6508	6222	2641

Table 3. Index of multiple deprivation decile 2019 scores for (n = 195) live postcodes; deprivation affecting older people index (IDAOPI), income deprivation affecting children index (IDACI).

Decile	Index of multiple deprivation		IDACI		IDAOPI
	Frequency	Percent	Frequency	Percent	Frequency	Percent
1	28	13.5	31	14.9	23	11.1
2	29	13.9	15	7.2	27	13
3	21	10.1	22	10.6	20	9.6
4	22	10.6	28	13.5	30	14.4
5	25	12	22	10.6	16	7.7
6	18	8.7	27	13	22	10.6
7	18	8.7	13	6.3	23	11.1
8	14	6.7	16	7.7	15	7.2
9	13	6.3	10	4.8	9	4.3
10	7	3.4	11	5.3	10	4.8
Total	195	93.8	195	93.8	195	93.8

Table 4. Crosstabulation of deprivation decile against whether SFs were detected.

	Index of multiple deprivation decile										Total
Detected SF meds	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Yes	3	1	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	7
No	25	28	21	21	25	18	16	14	13	7	188
Total	28	29	21	22	25	18	18	14	13	7	195
	IDACI Decile										Total
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Yes	3	0	0	1	1	0	1	1	0	0	7
No	28	15	22	27	21	27	12	15	10	11	188
Total	31	15	22	28	22	27	13	16	10	11	195
	IDAOPI Decile										Total
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Yes	0	2	2	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	7
No	23	25	18	29	16	21	22	15	9	10	188
Total	23	27	20	30	16	22	23	15	9	10	195

Data availability statement

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article (and its supplementary information files).