[e-drug] BBC: Fake malaria drugs recalled in Kenya

["Libby Levison" <libby@theplateau.com>]

E-DRUG: BBC: Fake malaria drugs recalled in Kenya
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[Congrats to those involved -- but do E-Drug readers in Kenya have 
any more details?  Who caught this and how?  Have the medicines 
already been distributed across the country and is it a country-wide 
recall?  How is that being implemented?  This could be useful 
information if it were to happen again in another country.  Libby]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6951586.stm

Malaria drugs recalled in Kenya

A Chinese pharmaceutical firm plans to recall thousands of 
anti-malarial drugs supplied to Kenya after discovering a counterfeit 
syndicate.

The vice-president of Holley-Cotec Pharmaceuticals said 20,000 doses 
of Duo-cotecxin will be removed from sale.

He told the BBC an analysis of the counterfeit product showed it had 
very low active ingredients and patients taking it would not be cured.

An estimated 35,000 people die of malaria in Kenya each year.

Duo-cotecxin is one of the artemisinin-based combination therapy 
drugs highly recommended by World Health Organization to treat 
malaria and is widely supplied in government and private hospitals in Kenya.

A full dose of Duo-cotecxin costs about $5 in Kenya, the 
counterfeited drug is being sold for less than $1.

New technology

The Ministry of Health has been spearheading a campaign to crack down 
on counterfeit drugs that are readily available in the Kenyan market.

Dr Willy Akwale, who heads the government anti-malaria control unit, 
said this is the first case of a counterfeit supply of artemisinin 
combination therapy drugs.

"There have been many counterfeits on the sulphur-based anti-malaria 
drugs before, forcing us to have difficulties in countering the 
disease," Dr Akwale told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.

Eric Law, Holley-Cotec Pharmaceuticals' vice-president, said they are 
yet to locate the source of the counterfeits, but there is strong 
evidence linking the supplies to Asia.

"We are now going to introduce a new technology to tamper-proof the 
doses that will be supplied to replace the withdrawn drugs," Mr Law 
told the BBC News Website.

Health officials warn of a global health catastrophe if a growing 
trade in fake anti-malarial drugs leads to widespread resistance.

Sophisticated trans-national gangs are thought to be behind the 
counterfeit drugs, a fast-growing multibillion dollar business.

Meanwhile, the Kenyan government said on Thursday that there has been 
a dramatic rise in the number of children sleeping under insecticide 
treated mosquito nets.

It said that a two-year campaign to provide nets at subsidised prices 
has resulted in more than two-thirds of under five-year-olds sleeping 
under them.