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.

The high persistence of substandard drugs and clinically inappropriate artemisinin monotherapies inAfrica risks patient safety and endangers the future of malaria treatment.

With fakes of the cancer drug Avastin popping up in U.S. clinics in the past few months, patients are naturally worried about whether their medicines are safe.  Considering eighty percent of the ingredients in U.S. medicines come from overseas – mostly from China and India because their products are generally...

Included is a piece by American Enterprise Institute (AEI) scholar Roger Bate on the theft of millions of dollars of donated antimalarial drugs.

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...

It is time for a thorough investigation of drug theft at the Global Fund to ensure that drugs are being used by those intended, rather than encouraging illegal parallel distribution systems, in both recipient nations and nations where products are diverted.

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

While India is blamed for counterfeiting crucial drugs, a vast Chinese network behind the fakes is getting away.