In his new book, “Phake: The Deadly World of Falsified and Substandard Medicines,” Roger Bate explores the underground trade in illegal medicines that kills over 100,000 people per year and supplants billions of dollars of real products.

With 100,000 patients dying every year from dangerous medicines, it is time to take concrete actions. Establishing a treaty against fake medicines should be the first step.

3.8 percent of drugs sampled from countries with emerging economies failed basic quality control tests--and these drugs are used to treat potentially lethal infections. Africa has a greater problem with substandard products than any other location.

Our new research shows that, compared to illegal counterfeit pharmaceuticals, substandard legal medicines can pose an equally dangerous threat.

In this groundbreaking study, Roger Bate traces the burgeoning international trade in counterfeit pharmaceuticals.

For at least four decades Colombia has been synonymous with the costly war against narcotics. But a different kind of drug war brought me to Bogotá - the fight against counterfeit and substandard pharmaceuticals.

While counterfeits must be combated, drugs that are legally but poorly produced, substandard medicines-the subject of today's briefing-tend to get a free pass, even when they kill.

India is on the brink of finalizing a free trade agreement with the European Union. Yet even as the deal gets close, one area remains hotly contested: protection for intellectual property (IP). Controversy mounts over "data exclusivity" for pharmaceuticals.