title: Impact of poor-quality medicines in the 'developing' world.
abstract: Since our ancestors began trading several millennia ago, counterfeit and substandard medicines have been a recurring problem, with history punctuated by crises in the supply of anti-microbials, such as fake cinchona bark in the 1600s and fake quinine in the 1800s. Unfortunately this problem persists, in particular afflicting unsuspecting patients in 'developing' countries. Poor-quality drugs are a vital (but neglected) public health problem. They contribute to a 'crevasse' between the enormous effort in therapeutic research and policy decisions and implementation of good-quality medicines.
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust-Mahosot Hospital-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Collaboration, Microbiology Laboratory, Mahosot Hospital, Vientiane, Lao PDR. paul@tropmedres.ac
authors.forename: Paul N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Newton
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: Facundo M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Fernández
mesh_terms: D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards*; D003906:Developing Countries; D004340:Drug Contamination / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards*; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000592:standards*; D011634:Public Health / Q000592:standards; D011786:Quality Control
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations