Antimalarial drug quality in Gabon

Background: In Gabon, antimalarial drugs are widely available in both the private as well in the public sector and often self-prescribed (correctly and incorrectly) for the many febrile episodes attributed to malaria. Insufficient facilities to check the quality of antimalarial drugs, poor patient knowledge about these drugs; their relative high costs and the lack of appropriate regulatory and legal actions by the government make these drugs attractive for counterfeiters. Reports of poor quality and falsified drugs have increased in the past decade and evidence that a considerable proportion of drugs consumed in the developing world are of poor quality (often with no active or wrong ingredients) is emerging. Falsified drugs are an immediate threat for public health and have led to a great number of deaths from untreated malaria. For Gabon, there is no (published) data about the quality of available antimalarial drugs. We hypothesize that poor-quality anti-malarial drugs are prevalent in Gabon.
Objective: To describe the quality of available antimalarial drugs and to determine the prevalence of poor quality antimalarial drugs in Gabon. Most antimalarial drug samples will be collected in the province of Moyen-Ogooue.
Study design: (Non-clinical) - Prospective observational drug-quality field survey.

In Gabon, antimalarial drugs are widely available in both the private as well in the public sector and often self-prescribed (correctly and incorrectly) for the many febrile episodes attributed to malaria. Insufficient facilities to check the quality of antimalarial drugs, poor patient knowledge about these drugs; their relative high costs and the lack of appropriate regulatory and legal actions by the government make these drugs attractive for counterfeiters. Reports of poor quality and falsified drugs have increased in the past decade and evidence that a considerable proportion of drugs consumed in the developing world are of poor quality (often with no active or wrong ingredients) is emerging. Falsified drugs are an immediate threat for public health and have led to a great number of deaths from untreated malaria. For Gabon, there is no (published) data about the quality of available antimalarial drugs. We hypothesize that poor-quality anti-malarial drugs are prevalent in Gabon.

20-30 December 2013: Pilot study

31 December 2013: Official start of study

24 January 2013: Total targeted sample size collected and transported to laboratory of AMC.

February 2013: Analysis of samples

March 2013: Preparing for publication to peer-reviewed medical journal

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(This is a prospective observational drug-quality field survey)