Abstract

Increased donated and subsidised medicines for malaria are saving countless lives in Africa, but there is probably increasing theft and diversion of those medicines. The impact of medicine diversion is unknown but potentially dangerous and may bolster criminal networks and increase medicine stock outs (1,2). This study demonstrates...

Today, nearly 80 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients originate outside the United States. But the FDA cannot adequately oversee the safety of chemicals manufactured overseas and imported into the United States.

3.8 percent of drugs sampled from countries with emerging economies failed basic quality control tests--and these drugs are used to treat potentially lethal infections. Africa has a greater problem with substandard products than any other location.

This study attempts to ascertain whether registered medicines perform better in simple quality tests than those that are either not registered or not known to be registered.

A significant portion of antimalarial drugs in Africa have been illegally diverted from the public sector, where they were intended to be dispensed free of charge in public health facilities, to the private sector.

This working paper addresses what is probably a significant driver of drug quality--the legislative environment, and in particular, the registration process in which medicines are made and, more critically, sold.

India is the world's largest generic drugs manufacturing location but it has a significant problem with counterfeit and substandard drugs.

Many deaths that occur from malaria each year could be avoided if antimalarial drugs were effective, of good quality, and used correctly.