AZE.US
Some medicines sold in Baku pharmacies are raising questions among consumers because their packaging points to well-known producer countries such as Germany, France, Spain or the United States, while the same product names cannot always be found in those countries.
For ordinary buyers, the situation looks alarming. People say they try to check a medicine online or ask relatives and acquaintances abroad, only to be told that a product with that name is not sold in the country listed on the box. Some also complain about quality, saying medicines bought abroad appear to work more effectively than products sold locally as foreign or branded drugs.
Pharmacist Galib Mammadov says a different name does not automatically mean a violation. In the pharmaceutical market, the same active ingredient can be sold under different trade names in different countries. Original brand medicines usually keep the same name, while generic versions may be registered separately for individual markets.
According to Mammadov, a medicine can be legally sold if it has passed state registration, has a verified composition, batch number and barcode, and has been officially cleared for circulation. In that case, the buyer may be seeing not a fake or “unknown” medicine, but a product based on the same molecule under a different commercial name.
Azerbaijan’s Analytical Expertise Center under the Health Ministry also says a medicine’s trade name in Azerbaijan may differ from the name used in the country where it is manufactured. The center says registration focuses on quality, safety and effectiveness, as well as whether the producer meets international and national requirements. Under Azerbaijani law, imported medicines cannot be released into circulation without state registration.
Medical expert Adil Geybulla, however, argues that the issue cannot be explained away only by different names. He says medicines must meet proper quality standards, be linked to relevant registries and comply with pharmacopoeial requirements. He also points to the absence of a full national pharmacopoeia in Azerbaijan, which he says leaves room for questions about the quality and origin of some products.
Experts also warn of a separate risk: medicines that may not meet standards and enter the pharmacy network outside proper control. In such cases, the issue is not just a different trade name, but the possible circulation of products with questionable origin.
Dishonest market participants may reduce the share of the active ingredient, making the medicine cheaper but less effective for patients.
That is where the concern becomes more serious. Different trade names for different markets are a normal part of the pharmaceutical business. But when a product is difficult to verify, when it is unknown in the country listed on the package, and when buyers complain about weak results, public trust in the pharmacy market suffers.
For patients, the problem is not simply that a medicine may have another commercial name. The real issue is whether they can easily understand what they are buying: a properly registered generic medicine or a product of uncertain origin and questionable effectiveness. That information should be easy to check by name, producer, batch number and active ingredient.
AZE.US