title: Fake anti-malarials: start with the facts.
abstract: This meeting report presents the key findings and discussion points of a 1-day meeting entitled 'Fake anti-malarials: start with the facts' held on 28th May 2015, in Geneva, Switzerland, to disseminate the findings of the artemisinin combination therapy consortium's drug quality programme. The teams purchased over 10,000 samples, using representative sampling approaches, from six malaria endemic countries: Equatorial Guinea (Bioko Island), Cambodia, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda and Tanzania. Laboratory analyses of these samples showed that falsified anti-malarials (<8 %) were found in just two of the countries, whilst substandard artemisinin-based combinations were present in all six countries and, artemisinin-based monotherapy tablets are still available in some places despite the fact that the WHO has urged regulatory authorities in malaria-endemic countries to take measures to halt the production and marketing of these oral monotherapies since 2007. This report summarizes the presentations that reviewed the public health impact of falsified and substandard drugs, sampling strategies, techniques for drug quality analysis, approaches to strengthen health systems capacity for the surveillance of drug quality, and the ensuing discussion points from the dissemination meeting.
authors.affiliation: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, WC1E 7HT, UK. Harparkash.kaur@lshtm.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Harparkash
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.affiliation: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, WC1E 7HT, UK. Sian.Clarke@lshtm.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Siȃn
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.affiliation: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, WC1E 7HT, UK. mirza.lalani@lshtm.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Mirza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lalani
authors.affiliation: Promoting the Quality of Medicines Program, U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention, Rockville, MD, USA. sxp@usp.org.
authors.forename: Souly
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Phanouvong
authors.affiliation: Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN), University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Philippe.Guerin@wwarn.org.|Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Philippe.Guerin@wwarn.org.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Guérin
authors.affiliation: The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Geneva, Switzerland. Andrew.McLoughlin@theglobalfund.org.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McLoughlin
authors.affiliation: Intellectual Ventures Laboratory, Bellevue, WA, USA. bwilson@intven.com.
authors.forename: Benjamin K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: SSFFC Surveillance and Monitoring, Safety and Vigilance, Essential Medicines and Health Products, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. deatsm@who.int.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Deats
authors.affiliation: Medical Product Counterfeiting and Pharmaceutical Crime Sub-Directorate, INTERPOL, Lyon, France. a.plancon@interpol.int.
authors.forename: Aline
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Plançon
authors.affiliation: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, WC1E 7HT, UK. Heidi.Hopkins@lshtm.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hopkins
authors.affiliation: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, WC1E 7HT, UK. Debora.Miranda@lshtm.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Debora
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Miranda
authors.affiliation: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, WC1E 7HT, UK. David.Schellenberg@lshtm.ac.uk.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schellenberg
mesh_terms: D000962:Antimalarials / Q000592:standards* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D037621:Artemisinins / Q000592:standards / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D037621:Artemisinins