The harmful second lifetime of medical waste

The World Well being Group (WHO) estimates that the worldwide counterfeit drug market is value between $75bn and $200bn. Picture credit score: Love Worker by way of Shutterstock

Past the extra obvious environmental challenges of rising medical waste from at-home injectables like Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists, pharmaceutical firms are grappling with a quieter however equally pressing concern: the danger of contraband. Used injectors may be tampered with after which resold in black or gray markets, posing severe dangers to public security and vital legal responsibility for producers. This makes stricter oversight throughout your complete product lifecycle, from manufacturing to last disposal, extraordinarily essential.

Along with considerations about security and sustainability, suppliers now face the added problem of stopping these merchandise from re-entering circulation via unauthorised and probably harmful channels.

Exponential demand, unlawful provide, and security dangers for customers

When counterfeit medicine discover their means into actual medication cupboards, they expose severe vulnerabilities inside pharmaceutical provide chains and spotlight the pressing want for sturdy product retrieval and verification programs. In some of the high-profile instances, adulterated variations of the injectable blood thinner heparin resulted in no less than 81 deaths and a whole bunch of antagonistic occasions within the US alone.

In recent times, with GLP-1’s reworking weight problems and diabetes care outdoors scientific settings and surging in recognition, with prescriptions climbing almost 40% every year between 2022 and 2024, the danger of falsified or unsafe merchandise coming into sufferers’ properties has by no means been higher. These medicines, typically costly and never at all times lined by insurance coverage, troublesome to entry, and principally prescription-based, hold demand effectively above provide. This mixture fuels a rising underground demand as individuals search cheaper, quicker, and extra handy entry, even when which means turning to unregulated, dangerous sources.

The hovering recognition of weight-loss medicine, as an example, has made them a frequent goal for counterfeiters. In June 2023, UK journalists found medicine being bought on Fb, whereas Nigerian authorities uncovered counterfeit pens containing insulin throughout 9 international locations. Most just lately, the FDA was notified in April 2025 that a number of hundred counterfeit items of semaglutide injection 1 mg had infiltrated the US provide chain.

Scammers, con artists, and swindlers have additionally arrange store on-line to reap the benefits of the frenzied demand for brand new weight-loss medicine. Starting from discounted provides and gross sales with out prescription to pretend profiles on Fb and faux provides on Craigslist, new avenues proceed to crop up, luring in unsuspecting victims. From January to April 2024, McAfree tracked 176,871 phishing emails and 449 malicious web sites, a 200% enhance from the earlier quarter.

Participating with these unauthorised sources exposes customers to vital well being dangers, moreover the apparent monetary losses. McAfee additionally shared the story of a lady managing her diabetes with semaglutide who turned to on-line sellers after native pharmacies ran out of inventory. The pens did arrive, however they seemed completely different, and the packaging appeared off when realisation struck that they contained insulin as an alternative of the meant treatment. With out these visible clues, she may have by chance injected a probably lethal dose.

The problem for producers

The first problem is the absence of a standardised, user-friendly return mechanism that enables sufferers or suppliers to securely ship again probably counterfeit objects whereas enabling inside groups to handle returns effectively and in compliance with regulatory pointers. This hole is especially evident with injectables, advanced supply gadgets, and pill-based therapies the place verification requires intact packaging, authentic labels, or system parts.

This displays wider trade considerations, with the World Well being Group (WHO) estimating the worldwide counterfeit drug market at between $75bn and $200bn and INTERPOL’s Operation Pangea XV seizing over three million pretend medicines throughout 94 international locations.

In a nutshell, vulnerabilities exist throughout three high-risk product classes. Injectables are significantly vulnerable to tampering, label swapping, and repackaging. Pens and supply gadgets are advanced and troublesome to authenticate visually, whereas oral tablets are sometimes uncovered to gray-market resale or substitution.

How improper waste disposal provides to the issue

On the subject of injector pens, they’re smooth, sturdy, and sometimes function recognisable pharmaceutical branding – qualities that make them particularly interesting to counterfeiters.

If used injectors aren’t correctly disposed of, they develop into susceptible to assortment and tampering. These pens can then be conveniently refilled with saline, diluted medicines, or utterly unsafe substances, and but to the common client, a reused pen might seem equivalent to a real one. When counterfeit or reused injectors bearing a supplier’s or producer’s banding flow into out there, any ensuing hurt, whether or not it’s infections or ineffective dosing, can severely undermine public belief. Even when the corporate just isn’t immediately at fault, unfavourable outcomes are sometimes attributed to the unique model.

From reactive containment to proactive technique

One initiative that would assist meet the wants of each producers and end-users is PureWay‘s retrieval programme with safe containers in numerous sizes, a discreet internal field, and area for authentic labels and baggage to make sure full monitoring. This method additionally consists of clear, graphics-based directions to information correct returns and was examined for fast deployment, prepared to be used as soon as accredited. A number of different enhancements are beneath improvement, together with non-obligatory textual content alerts for sufferers, cross-product compatibility for injectable and non-injectable medicines, and tamper-evident parts to forestall post-return interference. Nonetheless in its pilot part, the strategy is proving efficient, enabling a shift from reactive containment to a coordinated, proactive technique that improves inside coordination and time-to-resolution for suspicious product stories.

By utilizing designated disposal programs reminiscent of mail-back sharps containers, firms can forestall unlawful reuse and counterfeit circulation, lowering expensive lawsuits, regulatory penalties, and product recollects.

How circularity can shut the loop

Finally, it’s not solely a matter of logistics. It’s about defending the sufferers, safeguarding the model, and guaranteeing regulatory compliance. With out cradle-to-grave oversight, suppliers can not absolutely observe or handle their merchandise all through their whole lifecycle. This blind spot can result in severe penalties: counterfeit variations circulating in shadow markets, compromised affected person security, and erosion of belief in authentic care pathways.

Round programs, then again, give suppliers full oversight of their merchandise from distribution to disposal, in order that they know precisely the place each injector finally ends up. It ensures that used injectables are collected and processed securely, stopping them from falling into the improper arms. Additionally importantly, when sufferers know their medical waste is managed responsibly, it improves confidence of their remedies and encourages adherence to treatment regimens. By combining accountability, security, and transparency, round programs can, in reality, reinforce belief throughout your complete healthcare ecosystem.