|
GPHF General Meeting: GPHF Firmly Intends to Continue its Successful Project Work The minilab has become the hallmark of the GPHF / Additional Training Course for Pharmaceutical Students Scheduled / Co-operation with the WHO now extended to Bhutan On the occasion of the General Meeting, the members of the German Pharma Health Fund e.V. (GPHF) issued a positive statement on the past year’s project work. All pilot projects initiated by the association have been implemented on schedule and with success. The Board of Directors has been unanimously granted discharge. The focal points of the 2003 project work will be the development of additional test methods for the GPHF-Minilab®, the organisation of the second seminar for pharmaceutical students covering the management of drug supply in developing countries, and the strengthening of the co-operation with the World Health Organisation (WHO). This planning schedule was also approved by the General Meeting. In her activity report, Dr Gabriele Küsters, the GPHF Chairwoman, stated that in the past year, the GPHF has – given its means and resources – once again made a valuable contribution to improving healthcare services in developing countries. As an initiative of research-based pharmaceutical companies in Germany, the GPHF has demonstrated, in particular by means of the GPHF-Minilab®, that the know-how of the member companies directly benefits people in developing countries. According to the GPHF Chairwoman, the portable, tropics-compatible compact laboratory, which allows for speedy and reliable identification of counterfeit and substandard drugs, is now regarded as the hallmark of the GPHF. The lab is now well known on a national and an international level and is praised by experts as a valuable tool for improving the quality of drug supply. There are currently more than 100 minilabs being operated on a global level. For this year, the GPHF plans to introduce test methods for five additional drug agents, all of which are AIDS/HIV medications. Additional Projects Planned The GPHF hopes that its training course entitled “Management of Drug Supply in Developing Countries” will achieve similar success on a long-term basis. The first seminar took place last autumn. In close co-operation with the Pharmaceutical School of the University of Mainz and under the Auspices of the Federal Ministry of Health, 25 pharmacy students from nine countries received training on the specific requirements of drug supply in developing countries. In September, this GPHF training course will take place for the second time. The country projects currently being implemented by the GPHF in co-operation with international partners in Kenya, Myanmar, Russia and in Kosovo, are also proving successful. The General Meeting approved the continuation of the long-standing co-operation between the GPHF and the WHO which will focus this year on a project in Bhutan. Thanks to Donors Dr Küsters explicitly thanked all donors who supported the GPHF in the past year. Without their much appreciated help and their continuous commitment, the GPHF would not have been in a position to realise its projects successfully. In addition, the Chairwoman informed the General Meeting of the large number of additional project inquiries received by the GPHF in the past year. Since the resources available had already been allocated to other agreed projects, most of these inquiries could not be granted a positive reply – although many of them would have deserved support. Dr Küsters was proud to report to the General Meeting that in February 2003, the World Health Organisation reconfirmed the so-called “Official Relations” between both organisations. As one of few private development-aid organisations, the GPHF continues to be officially accredited as a partner organisation of the World Health Organisation.
On the occasion of the rotational board elections, Michael Schöttler from Bayer AG was elected a new member of the GPHF board. Dr Carola Fink-Anthe (Boehringer Ingelheim) was confirmed as the Deputy Chairwoman. In addition, the board of directors now comprises the following persons: Dr Gabriele Küsters (Aventis AG, Chairwoman), Michael Ostermann (Sanavita AG & Co., Executive Board Member), Bernd Maehliss (Schering AG, Treasurer), Johannes Oenning (Wyeth Pharma GmbH) and Michael Raulf (Verband Forschender Arzneimittelhersteller e.V.). Joern-Peter Hinrichs (Bayer AG) and Volker Keidtel (Merck KGaA) have retired from the Board.
Children now Protected against Worm Infections GPHF Starts a Further Project in Bhutan in Co-Operation with the World Health Organisation If the GPHF and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have their way, approximately 200,000 children in Bhutan will soon see an end to their suffering from dangerous worm infections. In March of this year, both organisations agreed to launch a five-year programme (until 2007) to control these infections - which particularly affect children in Bhutan – on a sustainable basis. This efficient team is being lent additional support by the Ministry of Health of the Kingdom located between India and China, Bhutan's two large neighbours. On a global level, over a billion people suffer from worm infections or helminthic diseases. Infections that are not diagnosed and treated are particularly perilous for children, since they significantly hamper their physical and intellectual development. This problem is now to be solved in Bhutan. As part of a country-wide programme (scheduled for a period of five years until 2007), Bhutan’s schoolchildren aged 5 to 15 will be examined and treated. This programme will be bolstered by an information campaign aimed at informing the children and their parents of the hazards of these infections and the most effective means of preventing them. Help for 180,000 Children Based on epidemiologic studies, schools will form the pivotal point of the project planning because it is here that the project can directly and immediately access the children. But the schools are not only a place of information but also of treatment and therapy. For this purpose, the first project phase involves training the teachers. Under the direction of the national health authorities, they will in future administer medicines to their pupils and monitor their taking. For a start, this ambitious project will be launched in 4 of the 20 districts of Bhutan and will be progressively extended to cover a total of 180,000 schoolchildren. This project represents the continuation of a series of project partnerships set up between the GPHF and the WHO. Following the successful co-operation in Tanzania, the Seychelles, in Laos and – since last year - in Myanmar, both partners are confident of being able to make a valuable contribution to improving healthcare services in Bhutan, too.
Bhutan - the Unknown Kingdom The Kingdom of Bhutan, at the interface between Central and South Asia, is one of the countries that are barely known in Germany and are therefore more or less ignored. Given that the first official contacts between representatives of both countries were not made before the end of the seventies, this is scarcely surprising. Although consular relationships between both countries were established at the end of 2000, the Foreign Office openly admits that the hereditary monarchy in the Himalayas “is not a primary focus of the governmental German development aid programme”. However, Bhutan is far from being a so-called “pocket-size” state, for its area of 18,000 square miles is considerably larger than that of Switzerland. Most of the roughly 700,000 inhabitants – other estimates range up to 2 million inhabitants – live at an altitude of 2,000 to 3,000 metres and are exposed to permafrost in the high mountain region in the North and to the tropical monsoon climate in the South. The capital of the country which was granted independence from the British Empire in 1949, is Thimphu, a city of 60,000 inhabitants. Since 1972, the country has been ruled by King Jigme Singye Wangchuk with the backing of the National Assembly, part of whose members are appointed by the King, the other part being formally elected. Political parties or trade unions are completely unknown in Bhutan. A central part of public life, however, is religion, in particular Buddhism, along with Hinduism in the South. There is no doubt that Bhutan is a comparatively poor country, with the average per-capita income totalling no more than 700 US $. This situation is also reflected in the bilateral economic relations with Germany which are described by the Foreign Office as “developable” and can be easily illustrated by some figures: in 2000, Germany imported merchandise totalling 150.000 DEM from Bhutan, in particular chemical primary products, paper, cardboard and textiles. During the same period, Germany exported products, primarily machinery, totalling 1.5 million DEM in value, to Bhutan. Although the Kingdom located in Central Asia is basically interested in further developing co-operation with Germany, there are no more than three very small projects at the level of governmental development aid. For this reason, Bhutan continues to be a more or less unknown, legendary kingdom to most Germans.
The 100th Minilab on its Way to the Mekong The portable compact laboratory developed by the GPHF has proved to be an effective weapon in the battle against substandard and counterfeit drugs Roughly five years ago, a unique tool in the fight against counterfeited or substandard medicines was used for the first time in practice: the GPHF-Minilab®. At the end of 1997, pharmacist Dr Richard Jähnke effected the first test of this portable, tropics-compatible compact laboratory under the conditions prevailing in developing countries. This practical test took place on the Philippines, and proved a great success. Today, the minilab is operational in over 30 countries. In March, the 100th minilab was shipped by the GPHF and will be used in future as part of a malaria programme of the United States Pharmacaopoeia for testing drug quality in the countries bordering the Mekong. Using the minilab, 30 of the key pharmaceutical agents consumed on a global level can now be analysed in a speedy and reliable manner. The integration of additional agents into the test methods is a priority, and currently the object of extensive research activities. As of the end of 2003, the availability of additional tests for antiretroviral agents is planned. With the development of the minilab in the mid-nineties, the GPHF was one of the first organisations to respond to the hazards resulting from counterfeited or substandard drugs. Reports on the distribution of such drugs had repeatedly led to public alarm: in 1990 in Nigeria or in 1996 in Haiti, counterfeit or substandard drugs had caused the death of hundreds of persons. The most severely affected regions have been, and continue to be, the developing countries. Frightening Extent The World Health Organisation estimates that approximately seven per cent of the drug volume sold worldwide are deliberately counterfeited, contaminated or of substandard quality. The annual turnover achieved on this “black market for drugs” is estimated at 10 billion US dollars. Recently, the WHO again emphasised that approximately 20 per cent of all drugs marketed in developing countries are of substandard quality. As far as malaria medicines are concerned, the share of substandard drugs is estimated as high as 20 per cent. Along with the criminal energy of the completely unscrupulous counterfeiters, insufficient monitoring of drug supply is one of the main reasons why in many developing countries the health of the population is seriously jeopardised by this potential danger. Practical Help for People Affected In contrast to some quite ambitious projects which, however, are not in line with local conditions, the objective of the GPHF-Minilab® was from the outset to establish quickly, in a cost-effective manner and using simple but reliable methods whether a drug is substandard or counterfeited and thus detrimental to health. The objective of this project is not the export of complicated and expensive analysis tools but rather the immediate protection of the inhabitants of those regions in the world that are most threatened by drug counterfeits. The minilab, supplied in two containers of the size of standard suitcases, uses a four-stage test method starting with visual inspection and continuing through a disintegration test and colour reactions to semi-quantitative thin-layer chromatography tests. Thanks to its independence from external power supply, this mobile, tropics-compatible laboratory very quickly demonstrates whether a drug effectively contains the agents declared in sufficient quantity and in the required quality. The quantities of reagents and solvents supplied in the start-up package are sufficient to conduct at least 1,000 test runs for the verification of drug potency. The justification of the minilab becomes all too clear in the example of Mali: 14 of the 250 samples tested using the minilab were counterfeits, with an additional 12 samples being substandard. Operated in Numerous Countries In Africa and Asia alone, almost 90 minilabs are in operation. In total, 100 laboratory units are in use in hospitals, rural health stations or comparable health-service institutions. To date, not one erroneous result of the test methods has been reported. “Even though there are not in all cases precise figures available, we are convinced that the minilab has saved the health or even the lives of many people by keeping them from consuming counterfeited and thus harmful drugs”, summarises Dr Gabriele Küsters, the GPHF chairwoman. She is convinced that the mobile laboratory is likely to assume a key role in the improvement of the quality of the drugs locally available in many countries all over the world, thanks to its reliable and inexpensive test methods. New Tests At the outset, in 1997, the test methods supplied with the minilab covered 15 pharmaceutical agents. In a first extension stage in 1999, five additional agents were integrated into the tests. Since the end of 2002, the minilab has been providing test results for 30 of the most important drugs consumed on a global level. At present, Dr Jähnke, the minilab project manager, is developing test methods specifically adapted to AIDS/HIV drugs, the introduction of which is scheduled for the end of this year. Prior to this, he will carry out another minilab training in India. He hopes that the use of the minilab can be significantly increased by combining intensive training measures in developing countries with continuous further development of the minilab. Countries where the GPHF-Minilab® is Being Operated:
(Last update: April 2003 / * Launch scheduled in the near future)
GPHF Training for Pharmaceutical Students Scheduled for September Second Seminar on Management of Drug Supply in Developing Countries
The focus of the course will be the practical and solution-oriented knowledge of the particular conditions and requirements of drug supply in developing countries. The course will be split into four main topics – drug quality and safety, drug procurement and logistics of drug supply, business management and economic aspects. Lecturers include experienced and competent experts from pharmaceutical science and practice, i.e. pharmacists, representatives of manufacturers and authorities, and from development-aid organisations. The seminar agenda will be complemented by reports on practical development-aid work. The training course will end with a final examination before the Zentrallaboratorium der Deutschen Apotheker (Central Laboratory of German Pharmacists), with the latter also issuing the corresponding certificates. The person responsible for the training course is Dr Richard Jähnke, pharmacist, German Pharma Health Fund e.V. Persons interested in participating in this seminar are requested to contact the GPHF office directly. All information is also available on the Homepage of the GPHF www.gphf.org.
The GPHF would like to thank the following companies for their generous support of its project work:
|
Michael Schöttler Elected New Board Member
From
September 21 through 26, 2003, the GPHF, in co-operation with the Pharmaceutical
School of the University of Mainz, will organise for the second time a training
course entitled “Management of Drug Supply in Developing Countries”. This
seminar will take place in Schmitten (Taunus), and will address pharmaceutical
students from developing countries who are studying in Germany, as well as
pharmaceutical students from Germany who wish to work in development
co-operation.