Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #110916

Nancy L. Blum, MPH, MA, Director, USP Drug Quality and Information Program, United States Pharmacopeia, 12601 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, MD 20852, 301-816-8161, NLB@usp.org and Souly Phanouvong, PhD, USP Drug Quality and Information Program, United States Pharmacopeia, 12601 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, MD 20852.

Counterfeiting drugs is big business; the demand for drugs is high and the cost of making fakes is low. The greater the costs of authentic medicines, the more likely consumers are to buy from unreliable sources, especially in countries with little or no drug regulatory control. Most people trust that all the medicines they take are safe and effective, but recent evidence indicates that counterfeit and poor quality drugs are widely available; the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 10 to 35 percent of drug products in Asia are substandard or fake. Substandard medicines have been found in private pharmacies and in national drug supplies. Whether deliberately counterfeited or substandard through poor manufacturing and handling practices, poor quality drugs endanger public health. Counterfeits compound treatment problems for malaria, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases common in the developing world. The presentation will discuss the 1) scope of the problem of poor quality drugs using data provided by WHO, the United States Pharmacopeia Drug Quality and Information (USP DQI) Program, and others; 2) the link between poor quality medicines and the development of antimicrobial resistance, a growing global health problem; and 3) collaborative efforts between government and private sector organizations to address the issues. USP DQI is a cooperative agreement with the United States Agency for International Development to strengthen local capacity to detect poor quality pharmaceuticals in the public and private sectors; USP DQI works with WHO, national governments, and other local partners to achieve this goal.

Learning Objectives:

1.Define the components of drug quality and what is meant by substandard drugs.
• Articulate three ways poor quality drugs undermine health care in developing countries.
• Recognize the impact of counterfeits/poor quality drugs on the development of antimicrobial resistance.
• Describe interventions governments and health care providers can take to reduce the dangers of counterfeit/substandard drugs.

Keywords: Regulations, Antibiotic Resistance

Related Web page: www.uspdqi.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation