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NBC News examines drug-resistant malaria along Thai-Cambodian border

NBC News' "World Blog" reports on the emergence of drug-resistant malaria along the border between Thailand and Cambodia. "The Pailin area [in Cambodia] is now the epicenter of a fight to contain a growing resistance to Artemisinin, which is the world's main anti-malarial drug," the blog writes before noting the global health community's efforts to contain the spread of drug-resistant malaria.

24 Jan 2011

Media examines efforts to protect patients in Africa from counterfeit medications

HP and the African social enterprise mPedigree on Monday announced a new service that will enable patients in Ghana and Nigeria to verify the authenticity of their medications, Fast Company reports. "Counterfeit drugs are estimated to be a $75-billion-per-year business, [and are] implicated in the deaths of something like 700,000 people around the world annually," according to the article (Zax, 12/6).

9 Dec 2010

India, EU trade agreement will not restrict ability for India's pharmaceutical firms to export generic drugs, official says

"India and the European Union (EU) have agreed that the comprehensive bilateral trade agreement being negotiated by the two will not result in an intellectual property regime that restricts the ability of Indian pharmaceutical firms to export generic or off-patent drugs by being far more stringent than the TRIPS [Trade-Related Aspects of International Property Rights] regime of the World Trade Organization," LiveMint.com reports in an article that describes recent debates over the agreement.

9 Dec 2010

HP, mPedigree Network introduce life-saving service to fight counterfeit drugs in Africa

HP and African social enterprise mPedigree Network have introduced a potentially life-saving service that targets counterfeit pharmaceuticals by enabling people in Nigeria and Ghana to easily check the authenticity of their malaria medication.

6 Dec 2010

Fake antimalarial medications uncovered across Ghana

Substandard and counterfeit versions of thirteen key antimalarial medicines were uncovered in multiple locations across Ghana by the Medicines Quality Monitoring surveillance program. Set up by the Ghana Food and Drugs Board (FDB) in collaboration with the U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the program samples antimalarials across the public and private sectors.

9 Nov 2010

Leaders discuss best practices, challenges for detecting counterfeit medications

During the opening of the 10th annual meeting of the International Society of Pharmacovigilance (ISoP) in Accra, Ghana, the country's "Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Wednesday called on member countries of the society to institute effective measures that would help detect fake and counterfeit drugs," Ghana News Agency reports.

8 Nov 2010

Inter Press Service reports on counterfeit medicine challenges in central, Eastern Europe

Central and Eastern Europe is facing 'significant challenges' in combating a multi-billion euro, and often lethal, trade in fake medicines, security and pharmaceutical groups have warned, Inter Press Service reports in an article that examines the scope of the problem in a region now identified as a key smuggling route in an illicit trade which is growing every year.

30 Oct 2010

Six government drug control laboratories in MENA to join USP to improve quality of drugs

Six government drug control laboratories in the Middle East and North Africa will join together with the United States Pharmacopeial Convention in an effort to improve their capabilities to test the quality of drugs. The MENA Regional Laboratory Network aims to promote communication and exchange of information among participating countries, strengthen the performance and technical skill of the laboratories and their personnel, harmonize methods that facilitate approval of drugs across countries in the region, and help eliminate substandard and counterfeit drugs.

22 Oct 2010

MasterCard, Interpol partner to prevent online supply of illegal and counterfeit drugs, medicines

MasterCard Worldwide recently partnered with Interpol to support the global police organization's efforts to prevent websites from supplying illegal and counterfeit prescription drugs and medicines to consumers. Named "Operation Pangea III," the week-long effort covered 45 participating countries and resulted in 76 arrests to date. Additionally, 290 websites have been shut down and nearly 11,000 packages of contraband have been seized or detained.

15 Oct 2010

Experts warn dip in antibiotic R&D could lead to treatment challenges

The 50th annual meeting of the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) kicked off in Boston on Sunday with experts warning that a "slowdown" in research on antibiotic development could result in treatment challenges.

14 Sep 2010

Counterfeit drugs become growing problem

"Last year, nearly 1,700 incidents of counterfeit drugs were reported worldwide, triple the number in 2004, says the Pharmaceutical Security Institute (PSI), a group funded by drugmakers," USA Today reports. "Estimates for the size of the counterfeit drug market range from $75 billion to $200 billion a year. The market is likely much bigger because many cases are hard to detect.

13 Sep 2010

Egg recall raises questions about FDA

The recent salmonella outbreak/egg recall is raising questions about whether the FDA is fulfilling its regulatory role, PBS' NewsHour reports. "For the past few years, it's been one food safety scare after another. There was E. coli-laced spinach, salmonella-tainted peppers. ... There have also been problems with drugs. The ingredients in a contaminated blood thinner came from China.

3 Sep 2010

Researchers develop new technique to trace counterfeit drugs

Counterfeiting of drugs is a huge industry with an annual turnover of more than SEK 500 billion. In Africa the situation is extremely serious. Half of the malaria medication sold there could be ineffective or even harmful. Researchers from Lund and the UK have now developed a technique that could resolve the situation.

2 Sep 2010

Authorities arrest more than 80 people, seize 10 tons of counterfeit meds in E. Africa

Authorities have arrested more than 80 people and seized 10 tons of counterfeit medicines across six East African countries, the international police agency Interpol announced Thursday, United Press International reports (8/26).

27 Aug 2010

AP reports on efforts to monitor authenticity of antimalarials, other drugs in Africa

The Associated Press reports on a recent effort to use text messages to track the authenticity of antimalarials in Africa, where "more than 30 percent of malaria medicines are estimated to be fake."

24 Aug 2010

IPS looks at anticipated impact of free-trade talks on India's generic drug industry

With reports that ongoing negotiations between India and the European Union are expected to end in a free-trade agreement "by the end of August," Inter Press Service examines the concerns among drug manufacturers and exporters over how the agreement might reduce growth in India's generic medicines industry.

4 Aug 2010

Partnership for Safe Medicines to convene counterfeit drug conference

The Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM), a group of nonprofit organizations and individuals dedicated to protecting consumers from counterfeit drugs, today announced that it will convene leaders from academia, government and industry in an inaugural conference to be held October 8th at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

29 Jul 2010

Researcher to lead $14.5M project to fight malaria in Southeast Asia

A researcher in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences will lead a seven-year, $14.5 million project to fight malaria in Southeast Asia. Liwang Cui, professor of entomology, is the principal investigator for the Southeast Asia Malaria Research Center, one of 10 International Centers of Excellence for Malaria Research announced by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.

14 Jul 2010

New York Times examines India's growing influence on global drug industry

"India's drug industry — on track to grow about 13 percent this year, to just over $24 billion — was once notorious for making cheap knockoffs of Western medicines and selling them in developing countries. But India, seasoned in the basics of medicine making, is now starting to take on a more mainstream role in the global drug industry, as a result of recent strengthening of patent law here and cost pressures on name-brand drug makers in the West," the New York Times writes.

8 Jul 2010

WCO signs declaration, vows to crack down on counterfeit drug industry

World Customs Organization Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya on Thursday signed a declaration vowing his group's commitment to crack down on the counterfeit drug industry, PBS NewsHour's "The Rundown" blog reports. The piece examines the growing threat of counterfeit medications worldwide and efforts to clamp down on the distribution of such drugs (Miller, 6/24).

28 Jun 2010