E-DRUG: Substandard & Falsified Antibiotics & Medicines against NCDs in Western Cameroon & Northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo
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Dear E-druggers,
With the currently growing number of reports of substandard and
falsified medicine, the importance of access to safe and
quality-assured medicine in low- and middle-income countries has
become an even more important topic of discussion. Therefore I am
happy to share with you our recently published paper 'Substandard and
Falsified Antibiotics and Medicines against Noncommunicable Diseases
in Western Cameroon and Northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo'.
The article can be accessed using the following link:
http://www.ajtmh.org/content/journals/10.4269/ajtmh.20-0184
Abstract: Falsified and substandard medicines may undermine the
progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals. The present study
investigated the quality of 13 essential medicines in Cameroon and the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo). Five hundred six medicine
samples were collected from the government and faith-based health
facilities, private pharmacies, and informal vendors (total 60
facilities).
Collected samples were analyzed according to the U.S.
Pharmacopeia (USP) for identity, content, and dissolution of their
active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and for uniformity of dosage
units.
Three samples (0.6%) were identified as falsified. Overall, 8.5% of the samples failed USP specifications for the content of the API and 11.7% failed dissolution testing. Medicines from informal vendors showed a higher out-of-specification rate (28.2%) than other types of drug outlets (12.3%; P < 0.0001). All three falsified
medicines had been sold by informal vendors. The failure rate of medicines stated to be produced in Europe (5.1%) was lower than that for medicines from Asia (17.7%; P = 0.0049) and Africa (22.2%; P = 0.0042).
Medicines against noncommunicable diseases showed a higher failure rate than antibiotics (25.3% versus 12.1%; P = 0.0004). Four hundred fifty-one of the samples were analyzed in Cameroon and the DR Congo with the Global Pharma Health Fund Minilab (thin-layer chromatography and disintegration testing). The three falsified
medicines were readily detected in Minilab analysis. However, substandard samples were detected with low sensitivity.
A well-enforced ban of medicine sales by informal vendors and increased
attention to supplier qualification in the procurement process may reduce the prevalence of substandard and falsified medicines.
Kind regards,
Cathrin Hauk
Cathrin Hauk
Apothekerin, Doktorandin
Eberhard Karls University Tubingen
Germany
Email: cathrin.hauk@uni-tuebingen.de