Weak Health Systems Spread Counterfeit Drugs and Drug Resistant Malaria

March 9, 2011

Successes from the use of artemisinin combination therapies have reduced malaria-related child mortality in half in parts of Africa.  However counterfeit artemisinin drugs with lower than prophylactic dosages are creating resistance and turning the tide against the children of Africa. Karen Masterson reports for The Henry L. Stimson Center that malarial parasites “have neutralized the…

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Ethiopia Builds Up Medicine Registration and Labs

November 23, 2010

Ethiopia is training new staff and building capacity to better evaluate the safety of drugs within its country’s borders by using laboratory quality management systems and learning to test for authenticity. In order to ensure the quality of the country’s essential medicines, Promoting the Quality of Medicines, a USAID program, has been working with the…

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Counterfeit Drugs a Problem for the World’s Rich as Well as the Poor

September 7, 2010

Governments are stiffening regulations against fake drugs and conducting more aggressive raids, as anti-counterfeiting technologies improve and NGOs support anti-counterfeiting campaigns. Counterfeit medicine smugglers have not been as aggressively pursued by international law enforcement as heroin or cocaine smugglers , however governments are stiffening regulations against fake drugs and conducting more aggressive raids. Companies are…

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Identifying Counterfeit Drugs Part of New Malaria Research

July 19, 2010

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) recently announced that it will create 10 malaria centers around the world to study issues related to the disease, including new methods for identifying counterfeit drugs used to treat the illness. The NIAID, which is part of the National Institute of Health, will provide the centers…

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