Forged medicinal products total from 1 up to 5% of the overall volume of Ukraine's pharm market, director general of Darnytsia pharmaceutical firm Hlib Zahoriy reported during the testing of the automatic system for tracing medicines turnover.

According to him, nowadays the medicines, which are in popular demand, are mainly being counterfeited.

"If somebody thinks that only expensive medicine is forged, that isn't true. According to us, popular medicines are counterfeited, and they usually are national ones, the director general of the pharm firm said.

Zahoriy noted that involvement of the producer into the system for tracing the medicines turnover won't be financially burdensome: an average cost of the standard technical solution doesn't exceed $50,000-$60,000. It isn't a lot," he said.

As Zahoriy said, the Darnytsia firm in the frames of the participation in the pilot project for tracing turnover of the medicines has already bought one type of such equipment and during the whole term of the project's implementation will buy additional equipment.

"We shouldn't dispute with the state concerning importance of the introduction of this system. I think that every national producer at minimum in the medium-term perspective will profit of such investments," he added.

As reported, Ukraine in 2013 will start realizing a pilot project on labeling each package with medicine by a unique number and a binary code. Two Turkish, two Indian producers and one Ukrainian manufacturer, as well as two or three pharmacy chains will take part in the pilot project in Ukraine.

The said system will be introduced in the European Union from 2017.