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Photo courtesy of the
London School of Hygiene
& Tropical Medicine
Investigations into antimalarial drug quality conducted in Cambodia and Tanzania uncovered no evidence of fake medicines.
Previous reports had suggested that up to a third of antimalarials might be falsified, or do not contain the stated active pharmaceutical ingredient.
The new research revealed no falsified drugs in either country, but it did unearth substandard antimalarial drugs, or genuine medicines that do not have the correct amount of the active ingredient.
These findings were published in 2 articles in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
“Although there have been alarming reports about the prevalence of fake antimalarials, our study provides ample data showing that the quality of drugs is not so bad based on comprehensive sampling and analysis presented here,” said Harparkash Kaur, PhD, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in the UK.
“The lack of falsified medicines in Cambodia and Tanzania are reassuring, but the presence of substandard medicines is definitely a concern.”
The researchers analyzed 2028 antimalarials from Tanzania and Cambodia at 3 independent laboratories in the UK and US. They classified drugs as acceptable, falsified, or substandard.
In Tanzania, the researchers used an “overt sampling” system, telling vendors they were going to analyze the quality of their medicines.
In Cambodia, the researchers used overt sampling as well as a “mystery client” approach, where actors pretended to be patients with malaria, or their relatives, and bought the medicines offered to them.
Both studies used a randomized approach to sampling of drug outlets, which differs from previous studies that mostly used non-representative methods for selecting drugs for analysis.
Neither study unearthed falsified drugs, but substandard drugs were found in 31% of samples in Cambodia and 12% of samples in Tanzania.
“Falsified medicines have received much attention globally, but substandard drugs are far more prevalent and of great concern,” said Shunmay Yeung, MBBS, PhD, also of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
“Not only do they leave patients with malaria undertreated, which could be fatal, but they may also contribute to the development of resistance to [artemisinin-based combination therapies], the most effective drugs for malaria. Generally, the fact that no falsified antimalarials were identified reflects the positive impact of the [countries’ efforts] to control drug quality.” 
Photo courtesy of the
London School of Hygiene
& Tropical Medicine
Investigations into antimalarial drug quality conducted in Cambodia and Tanzania uncovered no evidence of fake medicines.
Previous reports had suggested that up to a third of antimalarials might be falsified, or do not contain the stated active pharmaceutical ingredient.
The new research revealed no falsified drugs in either country, but it did unearth substandard antimalarial drugs, or genuine medicines that do not have the correct amount of the active ingredient.
These findings were published in 2 articles in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
“Although there have been alarming reports about the prevalence of fake antimalarials, our study provides ample data showing that the quality of drugs is not so bad based on comprehensive sampling and analysis presented here,” said Harparkash Kaur, PhD, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in the UK.
“The lack of falsified medicines in Cambodia and Tanzania are reassuring, but the presence of substandard medicines is definitely a concern.”
The researchers analyzed 2028 antimalarials from Tanzania and Cambodia at 3 independent laboratories in the UK and US. They classified drugs as acceptable, falsified, or substandard.
In Tanzania, the researchers used an “overt sampling” system, telling vendors they were going to analyze the quality of their medicines.
In Cambodia, the researchers used overt sampling as well as a “mystery client” approach, where actors pretended to be patients with malaria, or their relatives, and bought the medicines offered to them.
Both studies used a randomized approach to sampling of drug outlets, which differs from previous studies that mostly used non-representative methods for selecting drugs for analysis.
Neither study unearthed falsified drugs, but substandard drugs were found in 31% of samples in Cambodia and 12% of samples in Tanzania.
“Falsified medicines have received much attention globally, but substandard drugs are far more prevalent and of great concern,” said Shunmay Yeung, MBBS, PhD, also of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
“Not only do they leave patients with malaria undertreated, which could be fatal, but they may also contribute to the development of resistance to [artemisinin-based combination therapies], the most effective drugs for malaria. Generally, the fact that no falsified antimalarials were identified reflects the positive impact of the [countries’ efforts] to control drug quality.”
Photo courtesy of the
London School of Hygiene
& Tropical Medicine
Investigations into antimalarial drug quality conducted in Cambodia and Tanzania uncovered no evidence of fake medicines.
Previous reports had suggested that up to a third of antimalarials might be falsified, or do not contain the stated active pharmaceutical ingredient.
The new research revealed no falsified drugs in either country, but it did unearth substandard antimalarial drugs, or genuine medicines that do not have the correct amount of the active ingredient.
These findings were published in 2 articles in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
“Although there have been alarming reports about the prevalence of fake antimalarials, our study provides ample data showing that the quality of drugs is not so bad based on comprehensive sampling and analysis presented here,” said Harparkash Kaur, PhD, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in the UK.
“The lack of falsified medicines in Cambodia and Tanzania are reassuring, but the presence of substandard medicines is definitely a concern.”
The researchers analyzed 2028 antimalarials from Tanzania and Cambodia at 3 independent laboratories in the UK and US. They classified drugs as acceptable, falsified, or substandard.
In Tanzania, the researchers used an “overt sampling” system, telling vendors they were going to analyze the quality of their medicines.
In Cambodia, the researchers used overt sampling as well as a “mystery client” approach, where actors pretended to be patients with malaria, or their relatives, and bought the medicines offered to them.
Both studies used a randomized approach to sampling of drug outlets, which differs from previous studies that mostly used non-representative methods for selecting drugs for analysis.
Neither study unearthed falsified drugs, but substandard drugs were found in 31% of samples in Cambodia and 12% of samples in Tanzania.
“Falsified medicines have received much attention globally, but substandard drugs are far more prevalent and of great concern,” said Shunmay Yeung, MBBS, PhD, also of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
“Not only do they leave patients with malaria undertreated, which could be fatal, but they may also contribute to the development of resistance to [artemisinin-based combination therapies], the most effective drugs for malaria. Generally, the fact that no falsified antimalarials were identified reflects the positive impact of the [countries’ efforts] to control drug quality.”