The Burrill Report

Subpar anti-malarial drugs are creating drug resistance and threatening the health of vulnerable populations in Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

Global malaria mortality rates have fallen by more than 25 percent since 2000, but making continued progress will rely on long-term availability of effective anti-malarial drugs, the study’s authors say. With 20 percent to 42 percent of anti-malaria drugs in the regions studied turning out to be either poor in quality or fake, fresh concern is growing over the ability of health programs to effectively contain the disease.

“These findings are a wakeup call demanding a series of interventions to better define and eliminate both criminal production and poor manufacturing of anti-malarial drugs,” says Joel Breman, a co-author of the paper and senior scientist emeritus at NIH's Fogarty International Center.

The study, published in the May 22 issue of The Lancet Infectious Diseases, says that although a causal relation between poor-quality artemisinin derivatives and artemisinin resistance has not been confirmed, modeling analyses suggest that under-dosing of patients can play an important part in the spread of resistance.

No reliable global estimates are available on the extent of poor-quality anti-malarial drugs because there are no internationally accepted definitions of different types of inadequate drugs; no standard testing protocols or drug content requirements; and no recognized international forum to provide technical and scientific oversight.

The widespread self-prescription of anti-malarial drugs, their unregulated trade, and difficulties in authenticating supplies are creating problems that will only be addressable through a multifaceted approach to address their production, say the study’s authors.





May 24, 2012
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-nih_study_shows_fake_and_poor_quality_malaria_drugs_pose_threat.html