MANY a resident had dutifully used them as prescribed by their trusted physicians and wondered why the drugs failed to deliver on promise, as they did not get any better.

This may well be the reason: No fewer than 84.6 per cent of anti-malarial drugs sold in Lagos State are sub-standard, a research carried out by the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lagos (UNILAG), on 13 brands of Artesunate-amodiaquine combinations, also known as Artemisin Combination Therapy (ACT), bought from pharmacies in the state has shown.

The researchers found that 84.6 per cent of the drugs failed to meet the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) specifications for one of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs).

All the 13 brands of ACT tested have the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) registration numbers.

The situation, experts say, raises the risk of treatment failures and resistant strains of the malaria parasite.

The USP Reference Standards are highly characterised physical specimens used in testing by pharmaceutical and related industries to help ensure the identity, strength, quality, and purity of medicines (drugs, biologics, and excipients), dietary supplements, and food ingredients.

The researchers, in the study published recently in African Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, concluded: "Even though there is no case of outright counterfeiting from the results obtained in the study, the potency of the drugs vary considerably. Only 15.4 per cent of the samples studied had required amount of active ingredients for the two drugs.

"It is clear that the quality of most brands of artesunate amodiaquine combined therapy in circulation in Lagos metropolis is less than adequate. This result can be extrapolated for other cities in the sub-Saharan Africa. This poses a great threat to the global effort to combat the scourge of malaria."

The study is titled: "Quality survey of some brands of artesunate-amodiaquine in Lagos drug market."

However, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and the NAFDAC are divided over the result of the study.

More: http://channelkoos.com/index.php/news/1230-84-percent-of-anti-malaria-drugs-in-lagos-are-fake

By the same people who wanno 'assemble' LEGO vehicles too huh?
Otokoto billionaires of Africa!!!!

84%! Now this very scary.
If the research classifies 84% of malaria drugs as fake, then in real situation could be higher than the 84%.

Who will bail the cat?

Ibo made!

Capt.Barbosa:
Ibo made!

direct from Onitsha underbridge. . Okoro with their fakeness.

Igbo bashing as usual. Una don start again.

We all know the those responsible for such 'commercial activities'. They even call it their 'contribution to the centre' and show off their illgoten wealth while seeing themselves as the most advance and sophisticated tribe of Africa. At the other side of the scam is NAFDAC, SON and other regulatory agencies who virtually give fake drugs dealer a free hand to operate.

Yeske!:
Igbo bashing as usual. Una don start again.

who are the manufacturers of fake drugs and products in nigeria if not ibos ? Abeg tell me.

Capt.Barbosa:
Ibo made!

~Bluetooth:


direct from Onitsha underbridge. . Okoro with their fakeness.

Capt.Barbosa:
Ibo made!

Where was a tribe mentioned in the article? Una no dey tire?

Shut the F**kup with the tribal Bullsh*t and get some IQ juice on how we can solve this problem or do the igbos not buy this same fake malaria medicine unknowingly.....
Please lets fish out the fake manufacturers and save our country.

Funkymallam:

Where was a tribe mentioned in the article? Una no dey tire?

it doesnt have to be mentioned, we all know

horny4u: Shut the F**kup with the tribal Bullsh*t and get some IQ juice on how we can solve this problem or do the igbos not buy this same fake malaria medicine unknowingly.....
Please lets fish out the fake manufacturers and save our country.

Part of the solution begins with identifying the people behind this murderous act and you know what they are located in onitsha underbridge.Thanks to dora akunyili !

daroz:
it doesnt have to be mentioned, we all know

lmao

Death sentence is the best punishment for those who deliberately import fake drugs and also for those tampering with genuine products or producing fakes of the original brand.

Abaaa jooooo, no wonder u treat malaria and the next day, u still feel the symptoms but sha i no believe. Naija never bad teach that level... omo na die bi dat oooo... I really wonder why some1 will wake up one day and thinks of making money by killing millions of soul with his fake medicine. God dey oooooo.

Its all over the country and this is bad. I had malaria last year and took a drug which is quite efficient, bt I was still feeling feverish so I went to the hospital,I was tld to run the same test again,and I still had malaria. The doctor was even amazed that the drug did nt work when I told her what I took. May God help us in this country of ours

Stupidity is an act of displaying ur uncultured attitude in the public thereby becoming a nuisance to the public.

tunnytox: Death sentence is the best punishment for those who deliberately import fake drugs and also for those tampering with genuine products or producing fakes of the original brand.

Sensationalism and the lack of political will to arrest the situaion on the part of government is the only reason why this illicit crime still exist.What happens to the culprits of ''my pikin'' teething solution that killed thousands of children sometimes in 2009 ? The suspects were identified but what happened till date ? None was prosecuted and this happened exactly the same time,melamine,a poisonous chemical was discovered in baby milk in chian leaving thousands of children dead.china swiftly went into action sentencing some suspects to live imprisonment and killing others but in Naija as usual nothing happened because some idiots will begin to cry and bring tribalism into a serious crime as this.what a useless country !

dapo338: Abaaa jooooo, no wonder u treat malaria and the next day, u still feel the symptoms but sha i no believe. Naija never bad teach that level... omo na die bi dat oooo... I really wonder why some1 will wake up one day and thinks of making money by killing millions of soul with his fake medicine. God dey oooooo.

Ever heard of wonders shall never end?

Do you guys know what Steven Johnson's syndrome means? I lost a cousin to this in 2010 November as a result of the fake Artesunate (poison) reaction in his system. There should be a dead penalty law to anyone found peddling fake pharmaceutical drugs, it is worse than the police's accidental discharge. You can check this link [url]https://www.google.com/search?q=pictures+of+steven+johnson%27s+syndrome&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=M9u&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=9451T7nqO4-KhQfpzZ2fDQ&ved=0CDkQsAQ&biw=947&bih=593[/url]and understand what trauma my cousin and indeed the extended family went through during this time.Diagnoses if not early and drug stopped immediately can be fatal.

I am amazed @ how ppl go off pointing accusing fingers immediately. I hv just one question- Do u think d Lagosian traders, or pharmacists or watever, dat go to onitsha n Aba to buy d drugs dont know they r sub-standard? Its evrybody's fault n not just d manufacturers.

no tribalism- no nairaland

The same thing goes for the milk and other diary products you consume on in Nigeria. Down to the toothpaste and washing soaps. They want you to buy or use more than the usual before you can get a reasonable effect.

We are feeling the absence of Dora Akunyili at NAFDAC.these fake drugs cartels are back.
Little wonder I treat malaria almost every month.

Ok since blissful ignorance is evidently having a field day here, informed clarifications are therefore in order.

first the post's title is misleading. there are 5 approved ACTs available in the market. The study focused on just one of them, artesunate-amodiaqune, whose percentage of active constituent as determined by the Unilag team gave rise to the disturbing findings. this lead to the conclusion - valid one, BTW - that 84% of that brand are fake.

However, one is baffled how the extrapolation to all antimalarials in the Nigerian market came about.

This is not an attempt to downplay the seriousness of drug counterfeiting in the market today; nonetheless sensationalism, especially on sensitive matters like this end up doing more harm than good and are better eschewed.

I hope the researchers will do a similar study on Artemether/lumefantrine combination which is heavily prescribed as a front line drug in the treatment of malaria. You trusted Coartem, it is hardly working again, they introduce lonart to you as a superior brand and the high retail price gives you an impression that yes! This is the drug, this one will work, then you take the drug 12 hourly for three days enduring that evil smell of it(like you are chewing 30 live Bedbugs) and at the end of it all, you are still not fine! Then the doctor tells you on your third week of hovering around thesame issue that "this time around let us try something else, you will take Artemether injection and chloroquine injection for 3 days. So, whenever you are returning from work after a long day of stress and painstakingly enduring the discomfort and malaise of your ongoing malaria, you return to the hospital for 3 consecutive days and "Aunty Nurse" scatter your "BumBum" for you with the injections the doctor prescribed! After 3 days of taking 6 injections you still wake up in the middle of the night with a temperature of 38 degree celsius, you are still having headache, generalized body pai unwholesome/bitter taste in your mouth,and most annoyingly; weakness- even after what is supposed to be a quality night rest! So what do you do now? you go back to the hospital and "RAKE" Seriously for the doctor, he begs you and says Ok! " Let us Admit you, we will give you Quinine inside a drip, and you will take 6 doses" you oblige. You feel much better and you are discharged after 3 days of admission.Thank God, its been 4 weeks ago you've felt this fine last.So you return to your daily hustles on top gear! Then 2 weeks after you go back to meet the school cert failed Chemist around your house and you ask her to Sell "Amalar" for you because the headache and fever has returned and you cannot go to the hospital at this time of the night! End of story- your Boss at work eventually introduces you to "Silifa Alagbo" (Silifa the herbal concoction merchant)so with your MBA, silifa a primary school leaver with 20 years cognate experience with herbal concoctions becomes your Consultant and confidant on health issues. Is anyone on Nairaland familiar with this kind of a Nigerian story?

youngies: MANY a resident had dutifully used them as prescribed by their trusted physicians and wondered why the drugs failed to deliver on promise, as they did not get any better.

This may well be the reason: No fewer than 84.6 per cent of anti-malarial drugs sold in Lagos State are sub-standard, a research carried out by the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lagos (UNILAG), on 13 brands of Artesunate-amodiaquine combinations, also known as Artemisin Combination Therapy (ACT), bought from pharmacies in the state has shown.

The researchers found that 84.6 per cent of the drugs failed to meet the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) specifications for one of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs).

All the 13 brands of ACT tested have the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) registration numbers.

The situation, experts say, raises the risk of treatment failures and resistant strains of the malaria parasite.

The USP Reference Standards are highly characterised physical specimens used in testing by pharmaceutical and related industries to help ensure the identity, strength, quality, and purity of medicines (drugs, biologics, and excipients), dietary supplements, and food ingredients.

The researchers, in the study published recently in African Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, concluded: "Even though there is no case of outright counterfeiting from the results obtained in the study, the potency of the drugs vary considerably. Only 15.4 per cent of the samples studied had required amount of active ingredients for the two drugs.

"It is clear that the quality of most brands of artesunate amodiaquine combined therapy in circulation in Lagos metropolis is less than adequate. This result can be extrapolated for other cities in the sub-Saharan Africa. This poses a great threat to the global effort to combat the scourge of malaria."

The study is titled: "Quality survey of some brands of artesunate-amodiaquine in Lagos drug market."

However, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and the NAFDAC are divided over the result of the study.

More: http://channelkoos.com/index.php/news/1230-84-percent-of-anti-malaria-drugs-in-lagos-are-fake

The title of the thread is very misleading. It is not that the drugs are fake - the manufacturers of the drugs are not meeting a minimum requirement. It has nothing to do with ibos. They are original drugs but substandard and this research was done only on artesunate - amodiaquine combination; there are other combinations - some even more common than this.

gulfer: Do you guys know what Steven Johnson's syndrome means? I lost a cousin to this in 2010 November as a result of the fake Artesunate (poison) reaction in his system. There should be a dead penalty law to anyone found peddling fake pharmaceutical drugs, it is worse than the police's accidental discharge. You can check this link [url]https://www.google.com/search?q=pictures+of+steven+johnson%27s+syndrome&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=M9u&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=9451T7nqO4-KhQfpzZ2fDQ&ved=0CDkQsAQ&biw=947&bih=593[/url]and understand what trauma my cousin and indeed the extended family went through during this time.Diagnoses if not early and drug stopped immediately can be fatal.

@ gulfer, I feel your pain mate! Its really hard and terrible to lose a loved one to the ineptitude and greed of some criminals. Who unfortunately share citizenship of this country with us! This people are encouraged by the lameness and incompetence of our regulatory agencies in Nigeria. They took a life they cannot create because of filthy gains. Well, God bless the dead and Avenge him of his enemies! At least that is the only Regulatory agency that the African child can rely on!

olufunmibi: @ gulfer, I feel your pain mate! Its really hard and terrible to lose a loved one to the ineptitude and greed of some criminals. Who unfortunately share citizenship of this country with us! This people are encouraged by the lameness and incompetence of our regulatory agencies in Nigeria. They took a life they cannot create because of filthy gains. Well, God bless the dead and Avenge him of his enemies! At least that is the only Regulatory agency that the African child can rely on!

mind you everyone who is a player in this evil supply chain is guilty be it the Yoruba retailer, Hausa Wholesaler or Igbo manufacturer! It is not a tribal issue it is an issue of depravity of individual greedy and Callous nigerians. We are in this together!

youngies: 84%! Now this very scary.
If the research classifies 84% of malaria drugs as fake, then in real situation could be higher than the 84%.

Who will bail the cat?

sorry.. its Who will bell the cat?

Always blaming the igbos on everything as usual... But wait ooh!! What's YENKEM doing ??, since d igbos are known to u as ''everything bad'' y not go 4 his product and leave the igbos alone 4 1nc. Oroki and agbo are also also there 4 u.

Folks, visit knowledgecenta..com and find out how l got rid of recurrent malaria attacks with a simple natural remedy.