Falsified and substandard medicines trafficking: A wakeup call for the African continent

Wada, Yusuf Hassan; Abdulrahman, Abdullahi; Muhammad, Musab; Chiemere, Vivian Owonta; Chimelumeze, Pearl Udoka; Khalid, Garba M.

doi:10.1016/j.puhip.2022.100240

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Thirty-two articles were included in this scoping review. The included articles addressed the following six domains: prevention, detection, and response to SF medicine marketing and use 13 , 33 , 41 , 44 , 45 ; regulatory framework and national capacity 25 , 31 , 35 , 46 , 47 ; SF medicine marketing control challenges 27 , 28 , 30 , 36 , 48 ; and health and economic burden of SF medicines. 14 , 32 , 38 , 49 , 50 The role of collaboration and networking for combatting SF medicine marketing and use, 26 , 39 , 51 , 52 strategies for combating SF medicines including improved access,16,41 poor alignment of research and development with the public need, 16 , 53 – 56 and policy framework and leadership commitment.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 7 Africa is a destination for about 42% of all SF medical products globally and 50% of Internet market drugs SF in Africa. 13 Another study also revealed the median prevalence of SF medicines among 25 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) was 28.5% (11%–48.0%). 14 This means more than 4 out of 10 patients were taking medicines that would not meet their needs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Improving access to medicines to reduce marketing and use of substandard and falsified medicines in Africa: Scoping review

Sorato,

Davari,

Kebriaeezadeh

2024

The Journal of Medicine Access

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Both constrained access to essential medicines and combatting marketing of substandard and falsified (SF) medicines are unmet health sector goals in Africa. Objective: To answer the question of how improved access can reduce the continuous surge of SF medicines in Africa. Design: We conducted a scoping review based on standard protocol. Methods: We searched articles published in the English language from PubMed/Medline, Cochrane Library, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar by using a systematic search query. Results: Seventy-one articles were included in this review. Access to quality essential medicines is still a major problem in developing countries in Africa and will continue as a threat for the next decade of health care. Ensuring access to quality medicines and preventing SF medicines in Africa need a systematic approach to address their underlying causes. Failure to ensure access to medicines is the major reason for the availability of SF medicines. Improving access to quality medicines can reduce SF medicine marketing and use. Manipulating the entire supply chain for efficiency, avoiding trade agreements that could reduce access, using compulsory licensing provisions, and pharmaceutical price control, providing incentives for drug development, and promoting rational use of medicines can improve access. Conclusion: Ensuring access to medicines and preventing SF medicine marketing cannot be achieved in the planned period in developing countries in Africa unless a comprehensive strategy is used. Improving access to quality medicines can reduce SF medicine marketing and use, that is, ensuring access through uninterrupted supply, improved efficiency, enhanced local production, preventing SF medicine entry, improved medication use system, and improved affordability. Therefore, it is essential to improve supply chain capability, address challenges of the supply chain, improve leadership and governance, establish country-specific anti-counterfeiting and anti-substandardization committees, and collaborate with all relevant stakeholders.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Improving access to medicines to reduce marketing and use of substandard and falsified medicines in Africa: Scoping review

Sorato,

Davari,

Kebriaeezadeh

2024

The Journal of Medicine Access

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This scourge is also affecting the socioeconomic aspect of many countries. 2,[5][6][7][8] Detection is an essential cornerstone for the identification of SF medicines and therefore for their quarantine and withdrawal from the supply chain. This detection has traditionally been possible thanks to pharmacopeial methods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In-Field Implementation of Near-Infrared Quantitative Methods for Analysis of Medicines in Tropical Environments

Waffo Tchounga,

Marini,

Nnanga Nga

et al. 2023

Appl Spectrosc

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is actually a well-established technique that demonstrates its performance in the frame of detection of poor-quality medicines. The use of low-cost handheld NIR spectrophotometers in low-resource contexts can allow an inexpensive and more rapid detection compared to laboratory methods. Considering these points, it was decided to develop, validate, and transfer methods for the quantification of ciprofloxacin and metronidazole tablet samples using a NIR handheld spectrophotometer in transmission mode (NIR-M-T1) coupled to chemometrics such as partial least squares regression (PLSR) algorithm. All of the models were validated with the total error approach using an accuracy profile as a decision tool, with ±10% specifications and a risk α set at 5%. Quantitative PLSR models were first validated in Belgium, which is a temperate oceanic climate zone. Second, they were transferred to Cameroon, a tropical climate zone, where issues regarding the prediction of new validation series with the initial models were highlighted. Two augmentation strategies were then envisaged to make the predictive models robust to environmental conditions, incorporating the potential variability linked to environmental effects in the initial calibration sets. The resulting models were then used for in-field analysis of ciprofloxacin and metronidazole tablet samples collected in three cities in Cameroon. The contents results obtained for each sample with the two strategies were close and not statistically different. Nevertheless, the first one is easier to implement and the second is the best regarding model diagnostic measures and accuracy profiles. Two samples were found to be noncompliant in terms of content, and these results were confirmed using high-performance liquid chromatography taken as the reference method.

show abstract

“…Every year, millions of people die because of the presence of falsified and substandard medicines on the pharmaceutical market. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines falsified medical products as those which are deliberately fraudulent, misrepresenting their identity, composition, or source, and it defines substandard medical products as those which are authorized drug products but fail to meet either their quality standards and/or their specifications [ 1 , 2 ]. In this latter case, the quality of the drug product can be affected from manufacture to storage, as well as during delivery.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Antibiotics and antimalarial drugs were the most widely reported medicines from 2013 to 2017, accounting for 16.9% and 19.6%, respectively. In the third position were anesthetics, painkillers, and lifestyle products (products for cosmetic use, erectile dysfunction, bodybuilding, and dieting), accounting for 8.5% [ 1 , 2 , 4 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and Optimization of a New UPLC-UV/MS Method through DoE and MLR for Detecting Substandard Drug Products to Treat Tuberculosis

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Drug products used for treating tuberculosis are one of the most widely reported medicines to be classified as falsified or substandard in low- and middle-income countries, representing a major hazard to health. The aim of this study was, firstly, to develop an ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) method which is able to analyze fixed combination tablets with up to four active pharmaceutical ingredients, including isoniazid, pyrazinamide, rifampicin, and ethambutol. Secondly, we aimed to optimize it through the design of experiments and multi-linear regression based on a central composite design and to validate it according to the guidelines of the International Conference on Harmonization. The application of this tools enabled the identification of the influential factors (flow rate, formic acid, and temperature) and their effects on the studied responses (retention factor and percentage for each drug) as part of the quality by design approach. The method proved to be to be linear in the range from 5.0 to 15 µg/mL for isoniazid, pyrazinamide, and rifampicin, being precise (<1%) and accurate (97–101%). In addition, the method validated for ethambutol proved to be linear from 1.4 to 4.2 µg/mL, as well as precise (0.54%) and accurate (97.3%). The method was stability indicated for all the active pharmaceutical ingredients studied and was able to detect two substandard formulations sampled on the African market.

show abstract

Falsified and substandard medicines trafficking: A wakeup call for the African continent

Cited by 11 publications

References 7 publications

Improving access to medicines to reduce marketing and use of substandard and falsified medicines in Africa: Scoping review

Improving access to medicines to reduce marketing and use of substandard and falsified medicines in Africa: Scoping review

In-Field Implementation of Near-Infrared Quantitative Methods for Analysis of Medicines in Tropical Environments

Development and Optimization of a New UPLC-UV/MS Method through DoE and MLR for Detecting Substandard Drug Products to Treat Tuberculosis

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About