Fake Malaria Drugs Spread, Breed Resistance to Lethal Parasite

In an October 9th story written by Simeon Bennett which appeared on Bloomberg.com, fake malaria drugs from China are breeding resistance to life-saving medications in Cambodia and threatening to derail global efforts to eradicate the disease, a study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation found.

The following are some interesting facts from Mr. Bennett’s story about the study:

• Among more than 700 packets of pills sold at private drugstores in Cambodia and Thailand, 60 percent were found to be substandard or counterfeit around the border, compared with less than 5 percent in other areas in Thailand. Previous studies have suggested about one-third of malaria drugs in western Cambodia are fake.


• Substandard treatments are contributing to growing resistance to genuine medicines in the area, he said. That threatens to unravel progress made against the disease in Africa, which has 90 percent of the world’s malaria cases, if the resistant strain spreads there, researchers have warned.


• The pills tested in the $350,000 Gates-funded study were mostly from China and touted to contain artesunate, part of a family of drugs called artemisinins that are the most potent weapons against malaria… the study completed last week found that some had no active ingredient, while others contained small amounts, which fuel resistance by favoring the survival of the hardiest parasites, he said.


• Treatments derived from artemisinin are taking almost twice as long to clear the parasites in patients in western Cambodia than in northwestern Thailand, showing the drugs are losing their potency against the disease, a study published in July in the New England Journal of Medicine showed.


• “This is a very, very large problem potentially for the whole world,” said Nick White, director of the Bangkok-based Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, which is studying drug-resistant malaria in the areas around the Thai- Cambodia border. “The scale and the speed of the response have been unfortunately too small,” he said.

The worldwide epidemic of counterfeit drugs continues to grow and impact the healthcare of people around the world.

XStream Systems’ revolutionary technology allows for those within the supply chain to screen and verify medications inside their unit-of-sale container without degrading or destroying the material. This type of verification is a vital solution to the proliferation of counterfeit, adulterated and fraudulent drugs and it impact to the healthcare of populations around the world.

To read the story, follow this link: www.bloomberg.com.

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.

Swine Flu Spam in your InBox

MacAfee has confirmed it! - Swine Flu Spam emails accounted for 2 – 3% of the global spam yesterday. We knew this was inevitable – especially since “Swine Flu” is the topic of discussion everywhere. Those internet pharmacies are trying to sell you their “Tamiflu” before the supply runs out. But buyers should beware!

Many of those spam emails direct the reader to online pharmacies. Readers are warned some of the sites were simply a ploy to scam credit card information out of buyers. Other sites are of questionable origin and may expose the consumers to dangerous counterfeit drugs.

Consumers should be aware that buying medications online from an unknown pharmacy puts their health at risk. Tamiflu is a prescription and needs to be prescribed by a doctor, any pharmacy attempting to sell the drug without a prescription is not thinking of your health and well being. Secondly, you should only buy medications from your local pharmacy or a mail order pharmacy that is tied to a brick and mortar pharmacy.

Wholesale suppliers should heighten their awareness and their security measures. We at XStream suggest adding molecular pharmaceutical authentication to your validation methods. It provides the confidence that both you and your consumers need that only top quality products cross through your doors!