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Disturbing ARTICLE on the BBC today. The article in part:
So as I understand it,
This is a drug that treats a disease (malaria) that is widespread in the third world.
The drug is cheap.
The drug is effective.
The drug is being counterfeited in a way that raises resistance to the real drug.
Increased resistance would make public health initiatives much less effective or more expensive.
How many other diseases that are prevalent in the third world might have this type of problem?
Does this case lend support to the drug companies argument that safe and secure distribution systems are at least as important as the availability of cheap generics?
Note that the price of the drug does not appear to be an issue here, first because everybody pretty much agrees the drug is inexpensive, and second because no matter how inexpensive the drug is, it is possible to make a cheaper counterfeit by diluting the dose.
Anti-malaria drugs which save hundreds of thousands of lives every year are at risk of becoming useless, because of new counterfeiting tactics.
Experts have discovered counterfeiters in South East Asia are producing dilute fake versions of the drugs - raising the risk of resistance.
The drugs are based on compounds from the Chinese plant Artemesinin.
They are the only cheap drugs to which the most deadly malaria parasite has not developed resistance.
As such, they are a vital plank in the global fight against a disease which kills over a million people every year.
The fake versions being produced by counterfeiters do not contain enough of the active ingredient to kill the malaria parasite, falciparum.
So exposure to it gives the malaria the chance to develop resistance.
Paul Newton, a malaria expert from Oxford University, based in South East Asia, said: "This would be a disaster for malaria control globally.
"We may have malaria that could not be treated in any affordable way."
Dr François Nosten, of the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit on the Thai-Burma border, said artemesinin-based drugs were "irreplaceable".
"They are very cheap, and very, very effective and work anywhere in the world. It can mean life or death for millions of people."
A recent study found over half of all the drug Artesunate sold in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Burma is fake.
It is believed the drug counterfeiters have begun adding small amounts of the active ingredient to their product to try and fool simple dye tests which test the veracity of artesunate.
These tests are widely used in South East Asia but they can only determine whether the active ingredient is present in the drug, not the amount.
Experts have discovered counterfeiters in South East Asia are producing dilute fake versions of the drugs - raising the risk of resistance.
The drugs are based on compounds from the Chinese plant Artemesinin.
They are the only cheap drugs to which the most deadly malaria parasite has not developed resistance.
As such, they are a vital plank in the global fight against a disease which kills over a million people every year.
The fake versions being produced by counterfeiters do not contain enough of the active ingredient to kill the malaria parasite, falciparum.
So exposure to it gives the malaria the chance to develop resistance.
Paul Newton, a malaria expert from Oxford University, based in South East Asia, said: "This would be a disaster for malaria control globally.
"We may have malaria that could not be treated in any affordable way."
Dr François Nosten, of the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit on the Thai-Burma border, said artemesinin-based drugs were "irreplaceable".
"They are very cheap, and very, very effective and work anywhere in the world. It can mean life or death for millions of people."
A recent study found over half of all the drug Artesunate sold in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Burma is fake.
It is believed the drug counterfeiters have begun adding small amounts of the active ingredient to their product to try and fool simple dye tests which test the veracity of artesunate.
These tests are widely used in South East Asia but they can only determine whether the active ingredient is present in the drug, not the amount.
This is a drug that treats a disease (malaria) that is widespread in the third world.
The drug is cheap.
The drug is effective.
The drug is being counterfeited in a way that raises resistance to the real drug.
Increased resistance would make public health initiatives much less effective or more expensive.
How many other diseases that are prevalent in the third world might have this type of problem?
Does this case lend support to the drug companies argument that safe and secure distribution systems are at least as important as the availability of cheap generics?
Note that the price of the drug does not appear to be an issue here, first because everybody pretty much agrees the drug is inexpensive, and second because no matter how inexpensive the drug is, it is possible to make a cheaper counterfeit by diluting the dose.
Clearly a mark of an amateur. A master debater would surely of reconized that only a couple of
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