Malaria In Cambodia

Malaria patients near Thai-Cambodian border–By Talea Miller, Online NewsHour via Flickr.

[...]

Vast Malaria Drug Theft Leaves Patients Untreated

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria have discovered that millions of dollars of donated malaria drugs have been stolen since 2009, vastly exceeding the suspected levels of theft.

The Global Fund developed a new anti-corruption program after exposed grant fraud prompted donors to demand greater transparency, reports the Associated Press.

Officials identified thirteen countries, mostly in Africa, where the drugs have gone missing from government supplies and have been resold, possibly tampered with or improperly stored, on the black market.

“Heat, high humidity and exposure to sunshine can cause accelerated decomposition of the stolen product,” says Dr. Marv Shepherd, Director of the Center for Pharmacoeconomic Studies at University of Texas-Austin’s College of Pharmacy. When these products are re-sold on the black market, they could be ineffectve at treating malaria and contribute to the growing resistance problem.

Global Fund spokesman Jon Liden said that $2.5 milion worth of malaria drugs are suspected of being stolen from Toga, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Swaziland and Cambodia, adding, “We take this very seriously and we will do what it takes to protect our investment.”

Western Cambodia is undergoing an outbreak of artemisinin resistant malaria, the first known worldwide, caused, in part, by poor malarial treatments. The treatments are poor due to improper drug treatment regiments, or because medications purchased for these regiments may have been diluted or stored improperly and therefore weakened. Additionally, counterfeit pills with limited or no effectiveness may have been repackaged in the legitimate medicine packaging.

Tom Kubic, President and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Security Institute is concerned. “Theft of this magnitude of life saving medication is a very serious global health concern. Every time medication leaves the legitimate supply chain it is vulnerable to tampering, including dilution of injectable drugs. Additionally, there have been incidents were counterfeit medicines were found in genuine, reused packaging. Gravely ill patients are at risk of receiving ineffective treatment and again, the most needy suffer.”

[...]

US Doctor Sold Fake Cancer Drugs to Patients: Gets 1 Year in Jail

On April 15, 2011, Kurt Walter Donsbach, 75, of San Diego, was sentenced to a year in county jail and probation of ten years after pleading guilty in December to 13 felony charges including unlawfully selling fake drugs to cancer patients, practicing medicine without a license and attempted grand theft.

[...]

Suburban Mom Sells Counterfeit Medicine to Undercover Agent

On April 18, 2011, a Maryland woman was charged in federal court with selling large numbers of counterfeit erectile dysfunction medication to undercover agents. Sarah Ann Knott, 28, of Waldorf, told an undercover postal inspector that she could sell thousands of ED pills in a matter of months and kept them out of reach of…

[...]

PSM Leads International Patient Forum Panel in South Africa on Counterfeit Drugs

Washington, D.C. (April 19, 2011) – Counterfeit medicines are adding to the already jeopardized health of Africans and the solution requires global and domestic coordination, said Partnership for Safe Medicines Executive Director Scott LaGanga during a panel on fake medicines at the joint seminar hosted by the International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations (IAPO), Patient Health…

[...]

Pet Medications Can Be Faked Too

FDA officials are reminding pet owners to verify their online pharmacy’s authenticity before purchasing heartworm medication for their pets this spring. With spring comes heartworms, and pet owners now go to purchase the potentially expensive medication necessary for the health of domestic pets. However, unsuspecting consumers could be giving their pets counterfeit medications which will…

[...]

US Training African Nations to Better Identify Dangerous Fake Drugs

In Accra, Ghana, scientists from the national laboratories of Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal and Sierra Leon, are being trained this week to use the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention’s database of medicine samples in order to better identify falsified and counterfeit medicines that plague their countries’ marketplaces. U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) is a nonprofit public health organization…

[...]

Coretta Scott King and MLK

Coretta Scott King, pictured with Martin Luther King, Jr., was one of Donsbach’s patients.Picture by JumpFightGo via Flickr.

[...]

PSM Executive Director To Speak at Pharmacy Conference

Scott LaGanga, Executive Director of the Partnership for Safe Medicines, will address pharmaceutical scientists from industry, government, academia, and others on the topic of counterfeiting and patient safety on August 18, 2011 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy conference entitled, “The Role of CMC Quality in Ensuring Patient Safety: From Development through Commercialization.”…

[...]