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 that sets standards for the identity, quality, purity and strength of prescription and over-the-counter medicines in more than 30 countries. The Technical Assistance Program (TAP) is providing comprehensive pharmaceutical reference standards which are composed of very pure samples to use a reference chemicals in testing for counterfeit medicine, extensive written specifications and training to teach countries how to use these reference materials to insure the safety of their own medications .
“Constrained by limited resources, the national laboratories in these nations may resort to using unreliable or outdated standards, and/or may not be equipped to offer their analysts the scientific training required to appropriately analyze medicines. As such, these laboratories may not obtain accurate results when they test questionable samples—a serious gap in quality assurance that can lead to severe health outcomes for patients, including prolonged disease and death,” reports the USP.
The five participating countries all have serious health challenges caused by counterfeit medications. In Ghana, for instance, 39% of tested antimalarial medicines failed quality testing due to insufficient dosages and excessive impurities. Faked medications, such as these, can cause parasite resistance to the real medications. Once parasites develop resistance to existing treatment, those with the resistant parasites have no course of treatment and will fall gravely ill and may die.
“As Ghana makes strides to address the devastation caused by substandard or fake medications, we are very pleased to host a delegation of countries seeking to do the same,” said Stephen Opuni, M.D., chief executive officer of the Ghana Food and Drugs Board. “This training will enhance our ability to detect such ‘medicines,’ which can cause as much harm as a disease itself.”