Permanent Program of Surveillance in Developing Countries to reduce counterfeit phenomenon through quality control and assurance of medicinal products
Aree / Gruppi di ricerca
Partecipanti al progetto
- Brusa Paola (Coordinatore/trice)
- Baratta Francesca (Borsista)
Descrizione del progetto
Members:
Dr. M. Parente (research grant), Dr. M. B. Iozzino (research grant), Dr. I. De Pellegrini (research grant)
Members of other units:
Dr. E. Ambrec, Dr. M. Carozzi, Dr. M.Cavallero, Dr. A. Colombo, Dr. G. Di Lascio, Dr. E. Delpiano, Dr. R. Durando, Dr. A. Germano, Father A. Gherardi, Dr. Valeria Mantellino, Dr. C. Maranzana, Father A. Mombelli, Dr. P. Narcisi, Dr. M. Nicasio, Pastor M. Passaretti, Ignacio Puche, Sister Lea Rasoloarisoa, Dr. M. V. Rava, Dr. M. Sapino, Dr. R. Stigliano, Dr. Francesca Tarditi. Dr. G. Vecchiati.
Partners:
No-profit Organisation who have required an evaluation of the counterfeiting rate within the territory under its jurisdiction
Sponsors:
A.P.P.A.® onlus - A.P.P.A.® no-profit Organisation or applicant Organisations
Description
The Project is an activity of Aid Progress Pharmacist Agreement, a no profit association, whose objective is to contribute to combating the problem of counterfeit medicines in Developing Countries (DC), where the Competent Authorities controls are less effective and stringent.
The main counterfeit medicines in the DC are the life-saving drugs; this fact is a very serious problem, like when in Niger in 1995 a counterfeit vaccination for the meningitis has been injected to 60.000 people, or when in Haiti in 1996 a paediatric syrup has been contaminated by diethylene glycol and it killed more than 80 children.
The anti-retroviral, antimalarias, antibiotics are the primary drugs affected in all DC, sometimes with staggering percentages: for instance, an international study published in 2004 has shown that more than 53% of artesunate tablets sold in southeast Asia were counterfeit, obviously causing severe consequences to the fight against malaria.
Since 2006 the quality of medicines purchased in local pharmacies or in unofficial street - pharmacies has been analysed at the laboratories at the Department of Scienza e Tecnologia del Farmaco of the University of Turin.
Our results showed that 50% of the samples did not contain the stated quantity of active substance (especially the Indian drugs) and 2% do not contain the stated API. These results are in accordance with international data retrievable in literature.
Given the worrying situation, further studies on medicinal products coming from Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Kenya, Madagascar and Somalia have been performed.
Unfortunately, the results obtained have confirmed a large number of counterfeit products in all countries.
These data demostrate the need for constant monitoring of the medicines on the local market and the importance of the A.P.P.A.® Project.
Keywords:
Developing Countries (DC), International Health Cooperation (IHC), Alma Ata declaration, Galenics, Compounding laboratory, Counterfeit, Quality control, Essential drugs
Links:
"A.P.P.A.® Project" Web Site