title: Falsified antimalarials: a minireview.
abstract: Malaria is a curable disease, provided timely access to efficacious drugs is sought. Poor quality and, in particular, falsified antimalarial drugs harm the population of malaria endemic areas; they put lives in peril, cause economic losses to patients, families, industry, and generally undermine the trust in health systems. The extent of the problem is not easily assessed, and although a prevalence of up to 35% of poor-quality antimalarials has been reported, this number should be interpreted with caution given the heterogeneity of methods used to measure it. The trade in falsified antimalarials can be curtailed by putting in place drug quality surveillance, better legislation and improving the access and affordability of these essential drugs.
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, Clinica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona 31008, Spain.
authors: Carlos
authors: C
authors: Chaccour
authors: Harparkash
authors: H
authors: Kaur
authors: Jose Luis
authors: JL
authors: Del Pozo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017954:Africa South of the Sahara / Q000453:epidemiology; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000592:standards* / Q000600:supply & distribution / Q000627:therapeutic use; D037621:Artemisinins / Q000592:standards* / Q000600:supply & distribution / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000077332:Artesunate; D002675:Child, Preschool; D058110:Counterfeit Drugs / Q000600:supply & distribution* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005607:Fraud / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D035846:Law Enforcement; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000469:parasitology; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D011786:Quality Control; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D037621:Artemisinins; D058110:Counterfeit Drugs; D000077332:Artesunate; C031327:artemisinin
keywords: antimalarials; artemisinin; artesunate; counterfeit drugs; falsified drugs; malaria; poor-quality drugs; substandard drugs