Latest News06-Jan-2012Fake medicines: any time, any place, any productThe proliferation of false medications continues. The findings from 2011 show again that the falsification of medicines affects all types of products, be they generic or innovator, occurs across the globe and threatens the health of patients. Case reports include the counterfeiting of antimalarials and the commercialisation of poor and extreme poor quality medicines. Combating the harmful trade is ongoing. For example, Operation Cobra in the West African region and Operation Pangea searching the Internet. Both operations masterminded by Interpol. As counterfeit medicines may not contain any active ingredient or are subpotent, the need for more Minilabs remained high in 2011, too. On average, six to seven Minilabs were sent into overseas projects each month, for example Liberia, Cameroon and Papua New Guinea. Overall, 474 Minlabs have now been delivered to over 80 countries. Supported by the Promoting the Quality of Medicines (USP/PQM) programme, the Minilab’s method inventory has been extended again, now covering 57 active pharmaceutical ingredients, the bulk of them being used as priority essential medicines to treat Malaria and Tuberculosis. For 2012, another supplement is scheduled. It will cover more vital anti-infective drugs. 14-Dec-2011 250th Minilab delivered to AfricaFrom 470 Minilabs delivered globally, 250 went to Africa and the jubilee Minilab was received by the health department of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC) today. Consisting of overall 54 nations, health facilities from 35 African countries adopted the Minilab so far; a field test kit developed for a rapid, non-sophisticated physical and chemical screening on harmful counterfeit medicines containing to much, to little or no drug at all. All 35 countries are from the Sub-Saharan region and a group of five countries obtained 50% of all labs. These countries are Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo, all with a high burden but also high awareness of false medications floating the markets in Africa and elsewhere. Projects for the North African region need still to be identified. Next to national health authorities, private corporations and the Global Pharma Health Fund (GPHF), past and current sponsors are international health assistance facilities, for example, from the United Nations family (UNICEF, UNODC, WHO, RBM), the Global Fund (AMFm), the United States (USP, MSH), Great Britain (MeTA, PATHS2), Switzerland (SCIH, INESS), Belgium (BTC) and Germany (GIZ). Faith-based organisations from the Netherlands (CordAid) and Germany (DIFÄM, MMI , Medeor) are procuring GPHF-Minilabs frequently on behalf of the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network (EPN) for own health services and partner hospitals as beneficiaries in Africa. The one for Cameroon came actually from them. 29-Nov-2011 Without Scruples: thriller on the fatal trade in counterfeit medicinesMost of us may be unaware that people are dying due to some unscrupulous human beings faking anti-infective medicines. But if you go to villages in Ghana, Kenya or Cambodia you will learn about the constant worries of the parents that their child might be next. Build on this background, Ingrid Glomp’s thriller “Without Scruple” is a fascinating insight story of a journalist in the search for answers on where counterfeit medicines are produced, how they are traded and who is taking the profits. The story starts in Frankfurt when a banker is dropping from a tower block. Journalist Cori Stein is the direct witness and by chance obtains a little piece of evidence. Dreaming of a cover story, followed by a killer, protected by a friend, she now starts to travel almost all continents. For example, on a stop in Nigeria, she meets the Minister of Health having once survived an assassination attempt after raiding the markets and seizing counterfeit medicines. Later, upcountry, Cori enjoys seeing one of the many undercover Minilabs used by local health authorities for the detection of spurious antibiotics. A quick test will actually help in saving little Joe’s life. But to meet the guys behind the crime, she has to move on to China and Russia. Fit for a new James Bond film and coming with a happy end, the book will surely make a nice reading during the forthcoming Christmas break. Available in German only. Translation pending. 15-Nov-2011 Ghana: Securing medicines quality through routine use of MinilabsCounterfeit and substandard quality drugs are a serious problem across the globe and capacities to deal with them are limited in particular in developing countries. In Ghana, for example, several cases of falsified antimalarial medicines with zero drug content have been reported in the recent years. Consequently, its medicine regulatory mechanisms incorporate quality assurance during registration and post market surveillance but counterfeiters and grey importers of substandard medicines use unofficial channels to outwit the existing system. In this context, Ghana’s Food and Drugs Board (FDB) uses GPHF-Minilabs for routine drug quality testing with fully-fledged confirmation analysis to improve post marketing monitoring. Market monitoring is funded by the Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA) and till to date, two rounds of antibacterial, anthelminthic and antidiabetic drug testing have been conducted, the results of them being shown here. 27-Oct-2011 Chaka Chaka, N’Dour to launch awareness raising song on counterfeit medicinesNairobi (Kenya). The international police organisation Interpol and its partner organisations brought together two stars, Yvonne Chaka Chaka also called “The Princess of Africa” and Youssou N’Dour, one of the best known Afro pop musician in the world. Today, at the Hilton Hotel, both artists will help to launch Interpol’s media campaign on counterfeit medicines and jointly perform the new song “Proud to be” in order to expose people in Africa and the rest of the world to the dangers of fake drugs. It is the first popular song to explain the risks around illegally traded and falsified medication possibly resulting in serious illness or even death. May-be, this also a good time and place to remember that about 25 years ago, the problem of counterfeit medicines was addressed first time at the international level at the Conference of Experts on the Rational Use of Drugs in Nairobi in 1985. The guiding principles set out then are now transferred into practice. The GPHF-Minilab is one result of them, too. 20-Oct-2011 Fake versions of priority essential medicines for free HIV care found in KenyaIn September, one first fake batch of the antiretroviral drug Zidolam-N, a triple ARV combination consisting of lamivudine, zidovudine or nevirapine, was found in Kenya. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has discovered further falsified batches. Whilst genuine batches with numbers E100766 and E110467 were never supplied to the Kenyan market at all, those with numbers A9351, A9357 or A9366 apparently exceed the overall quantities produced by Hetero in India. Investigations made by WHO’s partner programmes currently conclude that the falsification involved relabelling and repackaging of genuine batches donated for free HIV care in order to divert them to commercial markets. Although drug identity and content are matching label claims, it cannot be excluded that expired batches or batches with much shorter shelf lives have been used for fraudulent repackaging. Discolouration of some tablets indicates this. Essential antiretroviral medicines with much to little or missing lamivudine, zidovudine or nevirapine can easily be detected using GPHF-Minilabs. This is particular important in cases where counterfeit pharmaceuticals contain just chalk or water. 14-Oct-2011 Interpol: Sting to cut sales of fake medicines via illegal online pharmaciesReal or fake? Good to know for your medicines but good to know for online pharmacies, too. In order to protect patient safety and stop the criminal sales of fake medication currently prospering online in an environment of anonymity, the international police organisation Interpol took action and coordinated a global Internet monitoring operation among 165 agencies from 81 countries late in September. The largest operation of its kind, more than 2.4 million illicit and fake pills originating from 48 countries were confiscated, 55 individuals detained or interrogated and 13.500 websites engaged in illegal medicines sales shut down. Operation Pangea is the fourth consecutive Internet raid performed by Interpol in the recent years and the question remains open whether the trade of pharmaceuticals through the Internet will ever be safe. 10-Oct-2011 Minilab Manual Supplement 2011 now also available in French and SpanishSince twelve years, GPHF-Minilabs are providing simple test methods at affordable costs for an easy detection of harmful counterfeit medicines in developing countries. So far, more than 450 units have been disseminated to drug supply organisations, medicines regulatory authorities and other healthcare providers across 80 countries already. Users are based mainly in the African, Asian and Latin American region. Minilab applications are regularly extended. First published in English, this year’s supplement on five more antimalarial and antituberculosis compounds is now available in French and Spanish, too. For a total of 57 active ingredients, mostly anti-infectives, the dosage strength of finished drug products can now be verified fast and easy in each and every corner of the world. 02-Sep-2011 Papua New Guinea: Fake antimalarials in the legal drug supply chainCounterfeit and substandard quality anti-infective medicines are finding their way into the legal drug supply chain in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea (PNG). Fourteen samples consisting of amoxicillin and amodiaquine medicines, collected from five registered community pharmacies, were subjected to drug quality control using first basic Minilab TLC tests and later more sophisticated analytical methods at Frankfurt University. Two spurious antimalarial products, one of which was sold by a mysterious, non-existent company, contained no detectable amodiaquine. The pilot study was funded by the Global Pharma Health Fund (GPHF) and the results have now been published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Fake and poor quality anti-infective drug products are of great concern, as they not only undermine patient safety but are also fostering the development of resistant bacterial and other parasitic strains. This is why PNG obtained just recently four Minilabs from the World Health Organization (WHO) to help in boosting drug testing capacity in the capital and other provinces. 02-Aug-2011 Record counterfeit medicines case in Vietnam - Mekong Cartoon Contest on dealers in deathA poster with a capsule releasing blood drop by drop into the Mekong river shall serve to attract young artists from Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos to sit down this summer and write a comic strip about the dangerous trade in fake medicines and other harmful counterfeit goods. The contest has been initiated by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in June and will end late September. Meanwhile, fiction was overtaken by reality. An indictment has been filed over a record counterfeit case in Vietnam including fifteen suspects accused of running a fake drug ring with over forty different brands of falsified medicines for several years.
25-Jul-2011 Liberia: Informal markets hot spot for counterfeit medicines. More recalls initiated.Medicine quality monitoring for antimalarial medicines performed by USP/PQM staff in the Liberian market revealed that nearly half of the samples tested were either counterfeit or substandard. Consequently, more recalls of substandard quality antimalarials had to be initiated by the Liberia Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Authority just recently. Concerned are artemether injections, quinine suspensions as well as chloroquine and sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine tablets. All simple, low-budget generics to be added to the recall from early this month, when three important frontline antimalarials with no drug content have been removed from the market already. Hot spot for sale of fake drugs is Monrovia’s main market and red light section in the city centre. 04-Jul-2011 Liberia: Minilab TLC tests reveal the presence of fake front-line antimalarials with no activesIn its first official enforcement action since its establishment in September 2010, the Liberia Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Authority (LMHRA) has recalled three popular antimalarials from the Liberian market in June this year. Screening of antimalarial medicines samples taken in and around the capital Monrovia was conducted by the LMHRA in cooperation with the US Promoting the Quality of Medicines (PQM) programme. Existing Minilab kits from a former UNDP tender were used to screen for invalid samples using a basic technique known as thin layer chromatography (TLC). This allowed a high sample throughput at low cost. From the 56 samples of antimalarial medicines taken, 32 failed preliminary physical inspection. From this subset of samples, three front-line antimalarials contained no antimalarial ingredients and subsequently failed their TLC tests. The products and formulations concerned are artesunate tablets (Artesunate 50 mg with batch number 07015FX), quinine sulphate syrups (Colquine 60 ml with batch number ECQ-10001) and quinine sulphate suspensions (Colquine 60 ml with batch number ECQ-10001). These fakes can be considered as fatal each time when treating malaria. 08-Jun-2011 GPHF-Minilab method inventory extended. More antimalarial and anti-TB medicines added.As spurious, counterfeit and substandard quality medicines advance globally with focus on developing countries, more and more medication will require testing 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 57 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. The work has been supported by the Promoting the Quality of Medicines programme (PQM/USP). 13-May-2011 Papua New Guinea: Minilabs ramping up anti-counterfeit activities on pharmaceuticalsTests at Frankfurt university proofed already last year that Papua New Guinea is facing an uncontrolled influx of counterfeit and substandard quality amoxicillin preparations. Funded by the World Health Organization (WHO), four Minilabs of the Global Pharma Health Fund (GPHF) arrived in the capital of Port Moresby recently to help in monitoring the quality of antimalarials, too. This adds to the concurrent effort to clear the country’s tendering process for pharmaceuticals and other health commodities from non-professional and unsound activities seen in the past. 21-Apr-2011 Madagascar: A dozen Minilabs to protect malaria treatment against fake pills nationwideCoincidental with the forthcoming World Malaria Day next week Monday, Madagascar’s central medical and pharmaceutical supply organisation SALAMA just procured a dozen Minilabs for the detection of harmful counterfeit medicines throughout the island in the Indian Ocean next to mainland Africa. The supply is funded by the Affordable Medicines Facillity for Malaria (AMFm) run by the Global Fund. On arrival at the capital of Antananarivo, they will be disseminated to the regional health offices and join a further seven Minilabs funded by USP/PQM some years ago already. They shall point to low dose spurious and substandard quality antimalarials being instantly life-threatening when reaching patients and one of many other factors for the proliferation of resistant malaria strains 01-Apr-2011 France helps Cambodia in combating spurious medicines. Minilabs part of strategy.Much impressed by the success of the Cambodian authorities in combating spurious medicines, the French Ambassador to Cambodia H.E. Christian Connan inaugurated the new office building of the central committee for combating counterfeit products in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh just recently. During the opening ceremony, the Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister H.E. Sar Kheng and his Undersecretary of State H.E. So Phan were given a short introduction into the Minilab technology especially developed for rapid drug quality screening and counterfeit medicines detection. Cambodia is known for the emergence of multiresistant malaria and the proliferation of counterfeit antimalarials, each issue alone having deadly consequences. The new centre has been funded by the FSP (Priority Solidarity Fund) Mekong Project and can be seen as a direct result from lessons learned from the Mekong Roll Back Malaria drug quality monitoring programme run by the USP/USAID technical assistance between 2003 and 2009 during which abundant antimalarial pills with no drug content were found. From that time, the use of 50 Minilabs and the work of the USP training and project team are already legendary and are forming the blue print for other programmes in Africa, too. 23-Mar-2011 Frankfurt: Twenty Minilabs were waved away to Nigeria todayWaved away at Frankfurt airport by representatives from the British and Nigerian Embassy as well as staff from the Global Pharma Health Fund (GPHF) and Technology Transfer Marburg (TTM), twenty Minilabs funded by the British Crown Agents are now on their way to Nigeria where the Partnerships for Transforming Health Systems (PATHS) is eagerly awaiting the technology for the detection of harmful counterfeit antimalarials and other antiinfective medicines in the states of Enugu, Jigawa, Kaduna and Kano. Managed by own country means, a further delivery of ten Minilabs to other states is pending. 28-Feb-2011 Over 400 Minilabs now in placeAfter the Crown Agents recently awarded a contract for 20 Minilabs for shipment to Nigeria, a total of 420 mini-laboratories will soon be in place in over 70 countries of the African, Asian-Pacific and Latin American region. “The key is that our Minilabs are reaching people where protection against counterfeit and substandard quality medicines is needed instantly. Hence, in countries and drug supply organisations where appropriate testing capacities are still lacking.” says Richard Jähnke, project manager at the Global Pharma Health Fund. The very first Minilab went to a hospital in Mindanao run by the Doctors for Developing Countries in the Philippines twelve years ago. However, the concept of the Minilab really gained momentum when assessing and using more of them in Roll Back Malaria Partnership programmes of the Sub-Saharan, Mekong and Amazon region. Beyond that, over a 100 Minilabs have been deployed by technical assistance programmes of the United States Pharmacopeia alone. This helped in boosting testing capacity, identify harmful counterfeit or substandard quality medicines and protect public health and patient safety in about 20 countries. Thus, countless of lives have been saved by the detection and removal of fake antimalarials throughout all these years; the latest case being the identification of zero-potent antimalarial pills found at roadside shops during a Minilab training exercise at the health service of the Cameroon Baptist Convention earlier this year. 28-Jan-2011 Cameroon: Counterfeit antimalarial pills sold at roadside shopsFor Minilab training and implementation at the health service of the Cameroon Baptist Convention (CBC) last week, various anti-infective drugs were sampled on random in kiosk shops in and around Tika. For the treatment of malaria, outdated SP medicines were found to be still in circulation in small business operations of the private sector self-medication market. Beyond this, testing showed that all tablets from one SP brand sampled contained zero percent active ingredient. The same street shops also sold completely degraded penicillin tablets. The CBC warned Tiko’s communities about these counterfeit and substandard quality incidences at Sunday services. In fact, the Minilab’s testing campaign was included in the sermon, samples of fake medicines were shown around and readings from the chromatoplates have been discussed in the church. This was enough to rock the boat and spread the word into neighbouring communities and other healthcare facilities, too.
06-Jan-2011 GPHF-Minilab: Project Retrospective 2010Proliferation of counterfeit medicines continues and combating this harmful trade is ongoing. Hence, the need for Minilabs was again high in 2010. On average, one Minilab was sent into overseas projects every week. Overall, 394 Minilabs have been delivered to over 70 countries since project start twelve years ago. In 2010, users were mainly health authorities from countries in the African, Asian and West Pacific region. The biggest support came again from the Promoting the Quality of Medicines programme, a technical aid run jointly by the US Pharmacopeia and US Agency for International Development to improve pharmaceutical services within public health systems and priority disease programmes. In contrast to this, minor initiatives are focussing on due diligence projects when implementing Minilabs at medical stores and drug supply organisations. The Minilab’s method inventory has been extended now covering 52 active pharmaceutical ingredients, the bulk of them being anti-infective agents to treat malaria, TB and AIDS. For 2011, another supplement is scheduled. It will cover five more compounds from the same treatment categories. 21-Dec-2010 Indonesia: Detecting undeclared antiretrovirals in traditional medicines using MinilabsAfter an introductory training given by the Global Pharma Health Fund to fifteen staff members from central and regional drug and food inspectorates and laboratories at the national medicines quality control laboratory in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta last week, six Minilabs procured by the country are now being implemented in all main cities on Java island. Here, they shall serve to detect traditional medicines (Jamus) illegally and harmfully fortified with antiretroviral prescription drugs to enhance their performance. Protecting city and local communities against this kind of fraud requires constant testing by health authorities, a job for which the Minilab with its rapid and high sample throughput at low cost has been invented for. Funds for the training have been supplied by the local branch of Merck of which the parent company in Germany maintains the Global Pharma Health Fund, a charitable organisation running the Minilab project together with its partners all over the world since many years already. 07-Dec-2010 Rwanda: Cross-border Minilab training startedA Minilab training course performed by the Partnership for Supply Chain Management (PFSCM) for the national medicines procurement unit started in Kigali (Rwanda) on Monday this week. The training is joined by staff from the Association Regionale D'Approvisionnement en Medicament (ASRAMES) from Goma (Congo DR). Both supply organisations are working to deliver quality essential medicines to their healthcare facilities whereby the NGO ASRAMES is mainly supported by ECHO, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Fondation Damien to care about the people in the Congolese Kivu province. PFSCM is a capacity building programme maintained jointly by Management Sciences for Health (MSH) and John Snow Inc. (JSI). On both sides, the Minilabs shall protect the storage facilities and their beneficiaries against the infiltration of harmful counterfeit medicines. 25-Nov-2010 Ghana: Counterfeit antimalarials found in hospitals across the countryWithin the Medicines Quality Monitoring programme set up by the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) in Ghana, many counterfeit antimalarials have again been detected in hospitals across the country throughout this year. In 2009, the same project already uncovered a counterfeit version of Novartis' Coartem® ,a key antimalarial widely used in sub-Saharan Africa. The programme runs several Minilabs for rapid drug quality screening allowing high sample throughput at low cost. Even after all these findings and a recall of 13 different products it cannot be excluded that more fakes of harmful quality are still circulating in the market. Hence, pharmacy and hospital procurement personnel should be "more vigilant about their suppliers” said the US Pharmacopeia’s technical assistance programme (PQM) supporting the FDB surveillance project. 11-Nov-2010 Samoa and Papua New Guinea favour Minilab useSamoa and Papua New Guinea (PNG) will use Minilabs as a first step to boost medicines testing capacity in order to protect their people against harmful counterfeit medicines. To ensure optimal use of their Minilabs, a training course on appropriate test methods has been performed by the GPHF Project Manager Richard Jähnke in Samoa’s capital Apia last week. Staff from the pharmacy division of Samoa’s National Health Service and from PNG’s Central Public Health Laboratory will now be able to perform due diligence and rapid drug quality verification studies for counterfeit medicines detection completely on their own. The National Hospital ‘Tupua Tamasese Meaole’, located in Apia, hosted the training for eight people for one week. Funding came from the Samoan Operational Tender issued by the Asian Development Bank. Frankfurt/Apia covers the longest distance on planet earth between the point of Minilab assembly and point of use. Actually 13,000 air miles. 25-Oct-2010 Cambodia: Police attaché of the French Embassy donates MinilabsThe Police attaché of the French Embassy in Phnom Penh donates two Minilabs to Cambodia's medicines inspectorate for a quick detection of spurious antimalarial and antituberculosis medicines endangering public health and patient safety in the country. In addition, the donation supports current activities of the USP Promoting the Quality of Medicines programme there. For his Cambodian colleagues, the police attaché regularly provides advice on all kinds of organised crime in particular when being of cross-border scale within the Southeast Asian region. This includes the trade in falsified pharmaceutical products, too. 20-Oct-2010 GPHF-Minilab project in full swingFor the detection of harmful counterfeit medicines, USP, MSH and GPHF are running a series of Minilab trainings for drug quality monitoring and due diligence projects on country and local level, for example hospitals, in autumn this year. Concerning this matter, the USP Promoting the Quality of Medicines programme currently works on refresher trainings and TB medicines testing for staff from health authorities in Cambodia and Kenya, the MSH Center for Pharmaceutical Management will perform Minilab courses for the national health service in Rwanda including cross-border contacts to Goma (East Congo) and the GPHF itself will soon train health authorities from three countries (Samoa, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea) on how to make best use of their Minilabs. GPHF also funds a further training during Minilab implementation at the health service of the Cameroon Baptist Convention virtually preluding a large scale Minilab operation in fifteen countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) next year. 15-Oct-2010 Global hunt for online supply of counterfeit medicines very successfulWithin “Operation Pangea III”, a joint international enforcement action piloted by Interpol and the International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (WHO/IMPACT), authorities from over 40 countries raided illegal internet pharmacies, seized thousands of potentially harmful medicines and arrested 76 suspects across the globe this week. Investigations are still ongoing. 12-Oct-2010 Thailand: Massive seizure of fake medicinesThai authorities recently seized large quantities of counterfeit and illegally imported medicines worth well over 3 million US dollars at one major drug supplier alone. Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanavisit said that the latest haul of fake medicines was part of the ministry's campaign to keep substandard drugs away from consumers. In neighbouring country Cambodia, almost 20 tons of fake medicines were seized and destroyed in August this year already. Both actions can be seen also as an outcome of major antimalarial drug quality monitoring studies performed in recent years in the Greater Mekong region, the results of which having been eye openers for authorities and politicians. 14-Sep-2010 GPHF Frankfurt: Manual Supplement 2010 now also available in French and SpanishSince more than ten years, GPHF-Minilabs are providing affordable drug assays based on thin layer chromatography for easy counterfeit medicines detection. More than 350 units have been supplied to drug supply organisations, medicines regulatory authorities and other healthcare facilities across 70 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America already. First published in English, the supplement 2010 is now available in French and Spanish , too. For 52 active ingredients, mostly anti-infectives, the dosage strength of finished drug products can now be verified fast and easy anywhere in the world. 02-Sep-2010 Africa: Vatican denounces drug counterfeiters“Fake tuberculosis and malaria drugs alone are estimated to kill 700,000 people a year”, says the missionary press agency of the Vatican. “A large part of these victims are African”. Counterfeit medicines pose a high public health risk and subpotent anti-infective medicines promotes drug resistance. Hence, “the development of germs resistant to antibiotics and other treatments is a problem that affects all humanity, not just Africans. It is therefore in the best interest of all concerned that smuggling of counterfeit drugs be fought against.” Diocesan pharmacies of the National Catholic Health and Pharmaceutical Services in Ghana were among the first drug supply organisations to establish Minilabs for counterfeit medicines detection. An appropriate due diligence project for the health services of the Cameroon Baptist Church is pending, and next year, Minilabs may well become the core technology for a major drug quality monitoring study in the West African region. 30-Aug-2010 East Africa: police seize 10 tonnes of fake medicinesSupported by Interpol, WHO and the International Medical Product Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT), police, customs and medicines regulatory authorities from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zanzibar seized 10 tons of counterfeit medicines in July and August this year. This enforcement action is an extension of Operation Mamba I and Mamba II performed in the East African region throughout summer 2008 and 2009 respectively. 25-Aug-2010 Tanzania: Due to heavy counterfeiting, sale of all Metakelfin antimalarial medicines bannedMetakelfin is liable to frequent counterfeiting in East Africa since many years and a video documentary on this dangerous trade has been produced recently. Due to the latest presence of counterfeit tablets in the market, health authorities now suspended the import, distribution, sale and use of all Metakelfin antimalarial products. The ban is in the interest of public health and patient safety. The announcement of the Tanzanian Food and Drug Authorities can be accessed here. 20-Aug-2010 Cambodia: Tons of counterfeit medicines seizedEnforcement 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 medicinesThe 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 antibioticActing 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 medicinesIn 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 medicinesSince 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 clinicsTB 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 qualityHealth 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 extendedAs 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 medicinesFrom 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 medicinesThe 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 substandardFirst 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 seizedTwenty 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 antibioticsHalf 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 listWith 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 resourceThe 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 QualityAfter 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 medicinesGreat 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 medicinesCaught 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 IslandsIn 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 proliferationThe 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 MinilabThe 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 medicinesYesterday, 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 MinilabsThe 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 MedicinesTons 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 MedicinesAn 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. 27-Jul-2009 Ghana: Counterfeit Antimalarial Coartem® Contains No Active WhatsoeverGlobal implementation of artemisinine-based antimalarial combination therapy, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), enhances counterfeiting activities accordingly. Last week, the technical assistance programme of the United States Pharmacopeia (USP DQI) submitted samples of counterfeit Coartem® identified as lacking any of both its active ingredients artemether and lumefantrine to the authorities of Ghana. Within its Medicines Quality Monitoring program USP DQI maintains five sentinel sites in this West African country. Since the Global Pharma Health Fund (GPHF) supplied its mini-laboratories to these sites in January this year, patients nearby now have access to a quick quality check of non-effective antimalarials locally. Here, suspicious samples can be processed on neutral ground thus bypassing local conflicts of interest.
17-Jul-2009 Namibia: HIV/AIDS programme embeds GPHF-MinilabsManagement Sciences for Health (MSH) recently ordered four GPHF-Minilabs in order to secure the supply of quality antiretroviral medicines in Namibia. Starting next month already, the Minilabs will be used to monitor antiretroviral drug quality in the market and help in preventing counterfeit medicines of substandard quality entering the supply chain for HIV/AIDS programmes. 20-May-2009 Cambodia: Counterfeit Antimalarials Help Foster Drug ResistanceIn western Cambodia, counterfeit antimalarials are helping to breed a plasmodium strain that resists even the most-effective medicine. The development threatens to roll back malaria and creates a sort of biological time bomb the World Health Organization (WHO) plans to defuse with a screening and treatment programme to contain and eliminate the multi-resistant strain in the course of this year. 12-May-2009 InfluenzaEU Warning: Criminal groups may take advantage from influenza outbreak and sell counterfeit medicines via the internet. The European Medicines Evalution Authority (EMEA) and National Competent Authorities in the Member States warn that criminal groups may take advantage of the current outbreak of the A/H1N1 influenza virus to sell fake, adulterated or unauthorised antiviral medication or vaccines via the Internet. Members of the public who buy counterfeit or illicit copies of these medicines may be putting their own health, or that of their families, at risk. 17-Feb-2009 Mekong region: educational video advert on counterfeit antimalarialsThe broad distribution of counterfeit antimalarials in Mekong countries has well been identified using the GPHF-Minilab and other technologies. Later, an enforcement campaign lead by Interpol seized about 25,000 packages of fake artesunate finally traced back to clandestine operations in China (see Operation Jupiter below). An educational video advertisement produced by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Pharmacopeia Drug Quality and Information Program (USP DQI) now warns the general public in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos about the lethal outcome of counterfeit antimalarial pills. Note that Windows Media Player or similar software will be required to access the videos.
25-Nov-2008 Operation Mamba: Authorities seized hundreds of different brands of counterfeit medicines including antimalarials in Tanzania and Uganda17-Nov-2008 Operation Storm: Interpol seizes counterfeit medicines worth $6.65 million in South East Asia15-Feb-2008 Operation Jupiter: Dust and pollen particles in counterfeit drugs expose offenders in China14-Feb-2008 Toxic counterfeit cold medicine in PanamaPanamanian investigators said that 115 people were fatally poisoned by taking counterfeit cold medicine containing the toxic antifreezing agent diethylene glycol. Later in the UK, the same toxic agent emerged in tainted toothpaste from China. 03-Dec-2007 Counterfeit medicines reporting in UKThe UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) reports cases of counterfeit medicines on its homepage. 03-Dec-2007 OECD warns about counterfeit medicines proliferationThe Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a report documenting the global proliferation of counterfeit medicines. In one case, a counterfeit medicine travelled from China across the world and was subsequently distributed in no less than 42 different countries. More information on the OECD report can be found here. |
