Medicines quality in developing countries continues to remain a major challenge, especially in resource limited settings. Major constraints that hinder adequate regulation of the pharmaceutical market include poor regional cooperation, porous borders, lack of appropriate technology to detect counterfeit and substandard medicines and lack of public awareness and conviction about the dangers of counterfeit and substandard medicines.
On Sept. 20, 2011 presenter Patrick Lukulay, Ph.D., Director United States Pharmacopeia, Promoting the Quality of Medicines program (PQM) discussed these constraints in detail and highlight solutions that the PQM program has instituted in countries to address them. To illustrate the problem of the proliferation of poor quality medicines in African countries, Lukulay discussed the results of a recent study that USP and WHO conducted in ten African countries to assess the quality of artemisinin-based combination (ACT) therapies and Sulfadoxine Pyrimethamine.
Watch the webinar here.