Latest News
20-Aug-2010Cambodia: Tons of counterfeit medicines seized
Enforcement officials destroyed 19 tons of fake pharmaceuticals confiscated from city pharmacies and drug smugglers since March this year. This success can be seen as an overall outcome of Cambodia’s effort to strengthen its medicines regulatory systems and boost its drug testing capacity combining Minlab field tests with fully-fledged lab testing on central level in the recent years.
05-Jul-2010
West Africa: Minilabs highly ranked to help in combating counterfeit medicines
The incidence of counterfeit medicines in the West African sub-region is high and varies between 15 and 50% across countries. The prevalence of spurious medicines has led to reported therapeutic failures, drug resistance and in some cases, death on a rather alarming scale. In order to address this challenge for public health, regional strategies and an action plan have been discussed among health and enforcement officials from fifteen ECOWAS countries, assistance agencies (WAHO, IMPACT, USP/PQM etc.) and other stakeholders (Interpol, industry etc.) in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, last week. One focus was on the Minilab technology which will go a long way to help in counterfeit medicines detection in this region. Being self-contained, they can verify drug quality fast and cheap even in remote settings and feed national authorities, World Health Organization WHO and Interpol with data and samples of phoney drugs for fully-fledged testing and further criminal investigations. The blue print of action comes from drug quality monitoring studies performed in the Greater Mekong sub-region and subsequent seizures of fake medicines in abundant quantities under Operation Storm.
23-Jun-2010
Internet: Counterfeit antiviral contains antibiotic
Acting as ghost client, the crime investigation unit of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just recently obtained fake Tamiflu over the internet. Rather than containing the antiviral oseltamivir it contained the antibiotic cloxacillin which may lead to life-threatening conditions for people being allergic to penicillin. This is yet again another incident where spurious Tamiflu managed to infiltrate the legal drug supply chain and this is why the Minilab holds a non-sophisticated test for rapid oseltamivir verification in its method inventory since many years already. A consumer warning about fake antiviral medication was issued by the European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMEA) during the swine flu outbreak a year ago.
26-May-2010
World Health Organization committed to combat counterfeit medicines
In Geneva last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) submitted a review report on its activities around the issue of counterfeit medicines to the annual World Health Assembly (WHA). The report starts 25 years back and tells WHO’s story how to tackle and eradicate this major public health problem particular prominent in countries with no or weak regulatory authorities. The issue of combating counterfeit medicines is also included in WHO’s Medicines Strategy 2008-2013 and both documents are proving WHO’s continuous commitment to follow-up this threat to public health and patient safety.
06-May-2010
Cambodia: cutting tide of counterfeit medicines
Since teaming up with USP/PQM and boosting medicines testing capacity by opening a dozen medicines field test camps fitted with Minilabs between 2003 and 2005, health officials in Cambodia detected a high prevalence of counterfeit and substandard quality antimalarial medicines. Much more recently, phoney anthelminthics have been identified, too. The concurrent collection of ample evidence on dangerous trading in counterfeit medicines now enabled authorities to enforce the closer of 65% of illegal drug outlets in the country. All dealers in death shall be warned. For the missing balance to 100%, the collection of evidence is ongoing. Mainly detection and counting but also exchange of information and awareness raising paved the way for this success.
14-Apr-2010
Russia: Minilab training for TB clinics
TB clinics based in Moscow, Vladimir and Orel have recently been equipped with GPHF-Minilabs enabling doctors to verify rapidly the quality of antituberculosis medicines on site themselves and reject counterfeit drugs before administration. For this, staff from pharmacy departments and drug control authorities has been trained at the Central TB Clinic and WHO collaboration centre in Moscow last week. The pilot study on TB drug quality is implemented by the Promoting the Quality of Medicines (PQM) programme run by the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). GPHF Project Manager Richard Jähnke assisted in training. Clearing supplies from subpotent TB medicines will reduce the risks of multi-drug resistance proliferation.
06-Apr-2010
Mekong/Southeast Asia: Meeting on securing medicines quality
Health officials from regional countries and experts from international organisations were meeting in the capital of Lao PDR last week to take stock upon what has been achieved in confining counterfeit medicines proliferation in the greater Mekong region over the past five years. Key challenges and solutions in securing and monitoring medicines quality over the next years were discussed whereby the GPHF-Minilab was again able to attract much attention. The meeting was organised by the Promoting the Quality of Medicines programme (USP/PQM) in partnership with the Ministry of Health of Lao PDR. The other fifty participants were FDA representatives from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines or came from global donor agencies, for example, GFATM, USAID, BMGF , WHO and JICA.
19-Mar-2010
GPHF Frankfurt: Minilab method inventory extended
As phoney drug quality proliferation advances globally with focus on developing countries, more and more drug compounds are liable to counterfeiting and will require repetitive testing during post-marketing monitoring to ensure that only quality medicines reaches the patient. The need for more affordable and fast medicines testing is met by the GPHF-Minilab field test kit for which a supplement with new test protocols for more antibacterial, antimalarial and antituberculosis medicines has been issued now extending the Minilab’s total TLC method inventory to overall 52 drug compounds including their appropriate fixed-dose combination products. The list of Minilab reference standards has been extended accordingly but the overall background list of Minilab equipment and chemicals stays unchanged.
03-Mar-2010
Kenya: Revived GPHF video documentary on counterfeit medicines
From the early phase of the GPHF-Minilab project work, the almost forgotten documentary “Harm or Heal” has recently been recovered. Being virtually a timeliness piece of public education on the dangerous trade in counterfeit medicines, the original footage has now been digitalised and revived.
25-Feb-2010
Tanzania/Uganda: Life report on counterfeit antimalarial medicines
The trade in counterfeit medicines is said to be a multibillion-dollar-business a year, but while many counterfeits are lifestyle drugs there is more and more evidence that life-saving medicines are now being faked, too. The documentary “Kill or Cure” follows the counterfeit trail and exposes the global threat for health and life.
09-Feb-2010
Sub-Saharan Africa: one-third of antimalarials are substandard
First results from the study on the Quality of Antimalarials in Sub-Saharan Africa (QAMSA) so far performed in three out of overall ten countries reveal that a high percentage of key antimalarials circulating in the markets of Senegal, Uganda and Madagascar are of substandard quality and thus may contribute to the growth of drug-resistance. The findings were released yesterday by the Promoting the Quality of Medicines (PQM) programme implemented by the US Pharmacopeia (USP). The joint WHO study included initial screening on site using 25 GPHF-Minilabs and full-scale quality control confirmatory testing on 40% of all samples at USP laboratories in Rockville (USA).
02-Feb-2010
Southeast Asia: Millions of fake medicines seized
Twenty million of counterfeit and illegal medicines have been seized, hundred pharmacies and other drug retail outlets closed and thirty people arrested in Southeast Asia onset this year. Interpol, WHO/IMPACT and national authorities from eight countries (Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) led the coordinated action labelled Operation Storm II. The seizure consisted, among others, of antibiotics, antimalarials, birth control medicines and anti-tetanus vaccines.
29-Jan-2010
Papua New Guinea: Minilab unmasks counterfeit antibiotics
Half the samples of amoxicillin capsules and tablets brought by Prof. Jackson Lauwo from Papua New Guinea to the Goethe University in Frankfurt for investigation were found to be counterfeits. One purported to be produced by a manufacture that no longer exists, another claimed to be manufactured by a reputable company in India, which however does not manufacture the product in question. Several products contained the wrong amount of amoxicillin, a particularly dangerous flaw in terms of treating infections and avoiding development of drug resistance. The high incidence of counterfeits in Papua New Guinea is no real surprise, since PNG does not currently have either an official authority for regulating medicines or laboratories for testing drug products.
19-Jan-2010
Interpol: Counterfeit medicines number one on priority list
With modern computer- and manufacturing techniques even sophisticated products from electrical goods to software and medicines can be counterfeited. According to Roberto Manriquez, a criminal intelligence officer in Interpol's intellectual property crime unit, counterfeit medicines are the number one priority of the world's biggest police organisation.
16-Dec-2009
Germany: GPHF-Minilab manuals as teaching resource
The scholastic magazine “Praxis of Natural Science” presents the topic of counterfeit medicines and ways to detect them in its December issue. Turning teaching and learning to daily challenges, the somewhat boring subject of chemistry will be brought right up to the cutting-edge of real life. Even if the GPHF-Minilab itself may be to expensive for the average school budget, his accompanying manuals are still fit for use here considering the easy-to-understand test protocols and the ample provision of illustrations. On performing the tests, teachers and students will quickly take on the role of Sherlock Holmes and Scotland Yard. When talking about counterfeit medicines proliferation, school teachers can also educate their students not to be entirely uncritical consumers when it comes to mail orders of medicines through illegal internet pharmacies.
09-Dec-2009
Papua New Guinea: Assessing Antimalarial Drug Quality
After preliminary screening with the GPHF-Minilab, confirmatory drug quality testing of antimalarial medicines sampled in Papua New Guinea (PNG) will now take place at the school of pharmacy of Frankfurt University. Responsible for the study is Dr. Jackson Lauwo from the medical faculty of PNG University. He just arrived in Frankfurt to perform and learn more about advanced drug analysis. The study shall help to convince PNG health authorities to boost drug quality testing capacity in the country and to establish a national drug quality control laboratory. The local WHO country office and the Global Pharma Health Fund are supporting the first assessment of drug quality ever performed in the PNG market. The final report will be obtained by mid of 2010.
02-Dec-2009
London: Wellcome Trust conference report about counterfeit medicines
Great Britain’s biggest medical charity The Wellcome Trust has published a report on counterfeit medicines that draws on the discussions at a briefing meeting held in London recently. In face of the dangerous trade in counterfeit medicines, the report asks to boost instantly medicines testing capacity in less developed countries. Here, simple, inexpensive and reliable test methods are most urgent needed.
24-Nov-2009
Haiti: GPHF-Minilab protects children’s hospital against counterfeit medicines
Caught out by some counterfeit medicines last year, a Minilab donated by the Global Pharma Health Fund (GPHF) now protects the Saint Damien children’s hospital in Port-au-Prince of Haiti against the infiltration of further substandard quality medicines. The work of the hospital’s chief pharmacist Cajuste Romel on rapid drug quality verification is now supported by a team of experts made up from the Senior Experts Service (Bonn) and the German section of Pharmacists Without Borders (Munich). The hospital provides free treatment for 20.000 people every year and is maintained by the private aid scheme Our Small Brothers and Sisters (Karlsruhe).
17-Nov-2009
Caribbean: OECS donates a GPHF-Minilab for the British Virgin Islands
In order to enhance the cooperation in combating counterfeit medicines among member states of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), the member states’ own pooled Pharmaceutical Procurement Services (PPS) donates a GPHF-Minilab for the British Virgin Islands. Francis Burnett, managing director of PPS, just recently presented a cheque for US $ 5,000 to Mrs. Carolyn Stoutt-Igwe, Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Virgin Island Government. “Old faithful” OECS/PPS is one the first Minilab user and successfully runs a lab in St. Lucia since 1999.
09-Nov-2009
USAID: Multi-million-dollar programme against counterfeit medicines proliferation
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) invests 35 million dollar to fight counterfeit medicines proliferation and promote the use of quality medicines in public health supplies. The funds have been awarded to the US Pharmacopeia (USP) for the global implementation of the Promoting the Quality of Medicines (PQM) programme. From the Drug Quality and Information (DQI) predecessor program, well above 100 sentinel sites equipped with GPHF-Minilabs already supply USP with information on the quality of medicines in South East Asia and Africa since many years.
02-Nov-2009
Gambia: GPHF trained drug authorities in using its Minilab
The Global Pharma Health Fund (GPHF), a charitable organisation initiated and maintained by Merck Darmstadt (Germany), just recently trained eight staff members of The Gambia National Pharmaceutical Services (NPS) in the use of the Minilab in Kotu near Serekunda. Donated by the GPHF and based at the Central Medical Stores, two mini-laboratories will now help the Gambian health authorities to detect counterfeit medicines containing wrong, to little or no active ingredients. International Health Partners from Great Britain will support a first drug quality monitoring study on antimalarials.
13-Oct-2009
Benin: Chirac enters fight against counterfeit medicines
Yesterday, in a meeting of leading African politicians in Benin’s capital of Cotonou, former French President Jacques Chirac called for actions against counterfeit medicines proliferation in Africa. Copycat medication without any drugs are filled with empty hopes only and do not cure. The full Cotonou Declaration Against Fake Medicines can be viewed at the Chirac Foundation.
12-Oct-2009
Cambodia: Fighting counterfeit medicines with TV spots and Minilabs
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) launched a series of public service announcements on counterfeit medicines in Phnom Penh last week. First broadcasted on national television in Cambodia subsequent translations into other languages will help also to spread the word throughout all countries of the Greater Mekong region. As the proliferation of counterfeit and substandard quality medicines cannot be stopped and monitored easily “we will continue to support the Minilabs in the provinces and the main lab in the national capital of Phnom Penh” said Flynn Fuller, USAID Cambodia Mission director during the premiere event in Phnom Penh’s Meta House.
10-Sep-2009
Uganda be Riddled with Counterfeit Medicines
Tons of counterfeit antimalarials and antibacterials containing wrong or no active ingredients have been seized and destroyed in Uganda (East Africa) last week - just after the finish of a sustained monitoring operation mounted by Interpol together with the National Drug Authorities and IMPACT, the anti-counterfeiting taskforce led by the World Health Organization (WHO). Among the drugs seized were chloroquine, quinine, amodiaquine, sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine, cotrimoxazole und chloramphenicol – all of them life-saving medicines if not counterfeited and of substandard quality. This concerns also faith-based drug supply where cases of spurious quinine preparations have been detected with the GPHF-Minilab earlier this year.
24-Aug-2009
West African Countries Victims and Hub of Counterfeit Medicines
An assessment of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna from July this year now puts the dangers of trade in counterfeit medicines next to the dangers of illegal trade in narcotic drugs, weapons, toxic waste, cigarettes, oil and work force and takes them as a serious threat for countries in the West Africa region and the rest of the world. Lacking laws or poor enforcement of existing legislation are making the trade in counterfeit medicines much easier here in Africa. The majority of people stay completely unprotected against this immense threat to health and life.
