WHO: Drug-resistant TB at record levels worldwide

Substandard and Counterfeit Drugs Play a Part in the Resistance

According to the World Health Organization(WHO) an estimated 440,000 people had multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (TB) in 2008 and a third of them died as the new variant of the TB mycobacterium continues to spread. Globablly, the drug-resistant forms remain a relatively small portion of the overall estimated 9.4 million cases of TB. However, experts fear that drug-resistant TB is on the rise.

Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) is caused by bacteria that are resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampicin, the anti-TB drugs most commonly used. It can be contracted by exposure to a resistant form or the resistance can be acquired during treatment.

The most common cause is the failure to complete the six-month treatment or the use of substandard or counterfeit drugs.

A potentially more serious problem is extensively drug-resistant TB or XDR-TB, in which the bacteria are resistant not only to isoniazid and rifampicin, but also to a fluoroquinolone and any of the second-line injectable drugs, such as amikacin, kanamycin and capreomycin.

No good numbers are available for the incidence of XDR-TB, but the WHO estimates there were about 25,000 cases in 2008 and that nearly all its victims died. Since XDR-TB was first reported in 2006, 58 countries have reported at least one case.

The first case of XDR-TB in the United States was reported by Associated Press (AP) in December 2009. He was treated at a sanitarium for nearly two years before being discharged.

This issue of counterfeit, fraudulent and adulterated medications, is causing a deadly healthcare crisis around the globe, energizes the need for material screening of products within the supply chain, from raw materials to dispensing, to properly protect consumers everywhere.

To view LA Times article on TB resistance visit: latimes.com

To view the WHO report visit: who.int

To view AP story visit: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34516639/ns/health-infectious_diseases/%20

Drug Resistant Diseases Fueled by Counterfeit Medications Impact Developed Nations

As has been repeatedly discussed on this blog, drug resistant strains of diseases have evolved in underdeveloped countries by counterfeit medications that contain just enough of the active ingredient of the drug used to treat the disease to fool rudimentary analytical testing used to verify the drugs authenticity. Unfortunately these fake medications, with minor amounts of the real drug add injury to insult by not only not treating the disease but in creating drug resistant strains of the disease itself.

Until lately this issue has largely impact underdeveloped nations in Africa and Asia but as you can see by recent media reports and this article which appears in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, this phenomenon is now hitting US shores with drug resistant strains of Tuberculosis.

This problem of drug resistant strains in Africa kills thousands every day.
Developed and underdeveloped nations need to take action and utilize a variety of solutions to put an end to this issue which makes deadly diseases more sophisticated and deadlier.

Solutions such as XStream System’s, XT250 are able to do on-site, molecular screening of pharmaceuticals that can verify active ingredients, excipients and packaging to authenticate and verify medications inside their sealed, unit-of-sale container would drastically curtail the ability of counterfeiters to sell and distribute substandard medications in developed and underdeveloped nations.

To read the Star Tribune story visit: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/80160622.html?elr=KArks7PYDiaK7DUvDE7aL_V_BD77:DiiUiacyKUnciaec8O7EyUr.

To learn more about XStream Systems and its XT250, visit: http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.

Voice of America Editorial: Warning! Counterfeit Medicines

In the November 18th online edition of Voice of America (VOANews.com), an editorial describing the issue of counterfeit medications in developing countries and USAID new program to combat this issue was posted. The complete editorial appears below:

"Substandard and counterfeit medicines represent a threat to public health worldwide but pose a particular problem in developing countries, where lack of financial, technical and other resources make it difficult to protect the drug supply chains," said United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, Acting Assistant Administrator for Global Health, Gloria Steele.

That is why USAID is launching a new program to combat this menace over the next five years. The USAID program will be conducted jointly with the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention, or USP, a non-profit, non-governmental scientific organization that sets globally recognized standards for medicines and health care products.

The Promoting the Quality of Medicines, or PQM, Program, a $35 million cooperative agreement, will help improve the quality, safety and efficacy of medicines in countries around the world. These medicines are critical for the treatment of serious disease such as AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, and essential to USAID's priority health programs.

"Such medicines undermine decades of investments in public health," said USAID Acting Assistant Administrator Steele. "Without good quality, safe medicines to treat such diseases as malaria and tuberculosis, the impact of other health initiatives is severely weakened if not negated completely. The PQM Program focuses on this critical aspect of combating these diseases."

"The lives of patients are put in serious jeopardy when they take substandard or counterfeit drugs," said Dr. Roger L. William, chief executive officer of USP. He noted that these dangerous substances "contribute to the development of drug-resistant strains of infectious diseases. Such strains are a leading challenge in the fight against malaria, HIV/AIDs and tuberculosis."

Building on a 10-year USAID-USP partnership in this arena that assists health officials and others in 28 countries around the world, the program will increase efforts to address the significant public health challenge posed by substandard or counterfeit medicines.

Specifically, the program will help countries strengthen their medicines regulatory bodies; increase the supply of good-quality medicines; reduce the availability of counterfeit and substandard medicines; and conduct global advocacy to raise awareness of the dangers of substandard and counterfeit drugs.

The PQM Program builds on the work of USAID and USP over the past decade through a predecessor program, the Drug Quality and Information [DQI] Program. The new program will expand on these and other activities in Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa. The United States is committed to working with its international partners to combat the growing global threat posed by counterfeit and substandard medicines.

XStream Systems endorses USAID’s efforts and recommends the use of technology such as material screening as an efficient and robust solution to this issue.

To view the editorial online visit: www.voanews.com/uspolicy/2009-11-17-voa1.cfm.
To learn more about XStream Systems, visit our website at http://www.xstreamsystems.net/.