Counterfeit antimalarial taken off shelves in Ghana

A large quantity of a counterfeit antimalarial drug has been removed from the market in Ghana, thanks to a sharp-eyed citizen and the international Drug Quality and Information programme.

The products, which have been identified as lacking any active ingredient and so likely counterfeit, are copies of Novartis’ widely-used malaria drug Coartem (artemisinin) a brand which has become a major target for counterfeiters in recent years (see also Malaria crisis looming: are fake drugs to blame?).

While genuine Coartem has a yellow and white box containing four six-count strips of yellow tablets, the counterfeit comes in a smaller box with three strips of eight tablets.

The drug posed “a significant health threat to patients relying on the medication,” according to the US Pharmacopeia (USP), which operates the DQI programme on behalf of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

The DQI helps developing nations verify, assure and improve the quality of medicines intended to treat life-threatening neglected diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, as well as advance the appropriate use of these medicines.
 
“A major barrier in combating malaria throughout much of the developing world is the widespread presence of counterfeit and adulterated drugs, which undermines the public health,” said USP in a statement.

“Not only do these drugs fail to deliver the appropriate treatment to individual patients - putting their lives at risk - but they contribute to the growth of drug-resistant strains of malaria, one of the greatest challenges to malaria control today,” it added.
 
The latest case shows that programmes like the DQI can be an effective surveillance tool. The citizen brought the suspicious sample to one of five sites set up by the DQI in Ghana to monitor and test medicine quality. After failing initial testing at the site, further testing by the Ghana Foods and Drug Board (FDB) confirmed the medicine was indeed counterfeit.
 
“This episode illustrates that the system the DQI Program established to improve drug quality by removing counterfeits is working,” said Reverend Jonathan Martey, head of the FDB’s Quality Control Laboratory.

“Our joint efforts have only just begun to improve the public health situation here in Ghana, which has been continually challenged by the overwhelming presence of poor quality medicines.”
 
The FDB is currently seizing the drugs from wholesale and retail pharmacies as well as from licensed chemical sellers and is warning patients about the presence of the counterfeit Coartem tablets.