Counterfeit Malaria Drugs Responsible for Thousands of Deaths throughout Africa

According to the September 13th issue of Media Global, a global media outlet based in the United Nations Secretariat, the World Health Organization has revealed some disturbing statistics as it relates to the deathly impact of counterfeit medications in Africa. Some of the most revealing and interesting portions of the article are:

• The World Health Organization (WHO) has increased efforts to fight the distribution and manufacture of counterfeit malaria drugs in Africa.



• According to the World Health Organization, upwards of 2,000 children per day die as a result of taking these counterfeits medications.



• Due to their high demand and price, malaria drugs are a prime target for counterfeiters.



• Many of these counterfeits contain little to no active ingredients or even the wrong active ingredient. The active ingredient may temporarily soothe the symptoms but have no real effect on the disease itself.



• "There is usually a low amount of active ingredient, like the pain reliever paracetamol, in fake malaria medications,” according to Dr. Lembit Rago, Coordinator of WHO Essential Medicines and Pharmaceutical Policies," in order to “cheat qualitative screening tests that just react to the presence of certain actives, and thus may mimic false positive results.”

Although known to many within global health organizations and those with insight into the issue of counterfeiting the death toll and scope of the issue is nonetheless shocking. The insidious nature of counterfeit drugs and the cost in human life should be galvanizing and accelerating industry and governments around the globe to combat this plague before it continues its proliferation around the globe.

XStream Systems and its EDXRD technology offer a solution to this issue by being able to screen and test materials within their unit of sale, penetrating through the packaging and being able to do a complete molecular screening of the product (active ingredients, excipients, dosage) without destroying or degrading the medication.

To read the Media Global article, ("Counterfeit Malaria Drugs Kill Thousands in Africa," Media Global, September 13, 2009), visit: mediaglobal.org.

To learn more about XStream Systems, visit: www.xstreamsystems.net.

Largest European Seizure: Two Million Counterfeit Pills Seized in Brussels Airport

Two million counterfeit pills have been seized in Brussels Airport. The seizure of the drugs which originated in Mumbai, Indian and were bound for West Africa is the largest confiscation of counterfeit medicine in Europe.

The three Indian shipments contained counterfeit pharmaceuticals labeled as Tramal, a painkiller, and Fansidar, an anti-malaria drug.

Africa already has the daunting task of trying to control its malaria outbreaks without further obstacles of fake treatments. Many countries, organizations, and businesses have been aiding Africa to fight malaria and therefore, counterfeit medicine is a real threat to their work. In some countries up to 60% of anti-malaria drugs are fake and are aiding in the drugs resistance to current therapies.

Furthermore, the biggest victims are the children, because according to the Worlds Health Organization (WHO) a majority of malaria deaths are children under the age of five and Fasidar is one of the drugs given to pregnant women for the prevention of malaria.

The scope and intent of this particular case leads us to ask – Is any medication safe? How can we protect our most vulnerable medications? We believe the answer can be found in pharmaceutical authentication which verifies the drug itself. With nothing added and nothing destroyed; the method can be programmed to test various oral medications.

To learn more of this fascinating technology, see XStream Systems website at http://www.xstreamsystems.net/products.html.