An international research has shown that Ghana together with 10 other
African countries risk putting the lives of millions of its people in
danger due to the influx of fake malarial drugs on the market.



The research showed that fake and poor quality anti-malarial drugs were
threatening efforts to control the disease in Tanzania, Liberia, Sierra
Leone, Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon and other countries including China.



Undertaken by the Wellcome Trust-Mahosot Hospital in collaboration with
the Oxford University Tropical Medicine Research, the research showed
that counterfeit medicines could harm patients and promote drug
resistance among malaria parasites.



According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), around 655,000 people
died from malaria in 2010, with over 90 per cent of the deaths
occurring in Africa with almost nine out of 10 malaria victims in 2010
being children under five.



Plasmodium falciparum malaria remains a major public health problem and
according to the WHO, a vital component of malaria control rested on
the availability of good quality artemisinin derivative-based
combination therapy (ACT) at the correct dose. However, there were
increasing reports of poor quality anti-malarial drugs in Africa.



The research, which was conducted between 2002 and 2010, showed that
some of the fake tablets originated from China when seven collections of
artemisinin derivative monotherapies, ACT and halofantrine
antimalarials of suspicious quality were collected in 11 African
countries and in Asia en route to Africa.



According to the lead researcher, Dr Paul Newton, “failure to take
action will put at risk the lives of millions of people, particularly
children and pregnant women”, as malaria is believed to kill about
800,000 people a year.



In Ghana, the research found that the Food and Drugs Board (FDB), in
2009, via INTERPOL, found that two packets of ‘Coartem’ stated to be
co-formulated artemether-lumefantrine with eight tablets/blister and
manufactured by ‘Beijing Novartis Pharma Ltd’ upon testing contained no
detectable artemether or lumefantrine.



Also another ACT sampled in Ghana, which was expected to contain
Artesunate+amodiaquine, and analysed was found to contain less than the
reference range for artesunate and amodiaquine and might be counterfeit,
substandard or degraded.



The research discovered that some counterfeits contained a mixture of
the wrong pharmaceutical ingredients which would initially alleviate the
symptoms of malaria but would not cure it.



The study found that some of the ingredients in the tablets could cause
potentially serious side effects, especially if they were mixed with
other drugs a patient might be taking, like anti-retrovirals to treat
HIV.



According to the research, the malaria parasite can, after a period of
time, develop resistance to the drugs being used to treat it as it
happened in the past with medicines such as chloroquine, which therefore
necessitated the change to using monotherapies such as the ACTs.



The researchers warn that the fake drugs could make artemisinin, one of
the most effective drugs now being used to treat malaria, ineffective
as small quantities of artemisinin derivatives are being put in some of
the counterfeit products to ensure that they pass authenticity tests.



The research warns that although these drugs are unlikely to rid the
body of malaria parasites, they could enable them to build up resistance
to artemisinin and the lead researcher, Dr Newton, has called for
urgent measures from African governments to tackle counterfeit
anti-malarial drugs, saying, "The enormous investment in the
development, evaluation and deployment of anti-malarials is wasted if
the medicines that patients actually take are, due to criminality or
carelessness, of poor quality and do not cure."



Speaking to the National Co-ordinator of the Affordable Medicine
Facility for malaria (AMFm), Ms Vivian Aubyn, she said Ghana had put in
place measures to ensure that fake ACTs were not imported into the
country.



According to her, the AMFm, which is being sponsored by the Global
Fund, has helped reduce the cost of quality ACTs on the market thereby
making it affordable for all.



Also, she said together with the National Malaria Control Programme
(NMCP), the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Food and Drugs Board (FDB),
various programmes had been evolved which aimed at checking importation
of ACTs into the country and ensuring the genuineness of ACTs on the
market through continuous surveillance.



Updated: 18th January 2012