USP-WHO study finds a third of antimalarials sampled in three African nations to be substandard

The first results from a large-scale study of key antimalarial medicines in 10 sub-Saharan African countries reveal that a high percentage of these circulating on national markets are of substandard quality and thus may contribute to the growth of drug-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum, the most virulent form of malaria. The findings, released yesterday by the Promoting the Quality of Medicines (PQM) Program, a USAID-funded program implemented by the US Pharmacopeial Convention (USP), are for three countries surveyed in the study - Madagascar, Senegal and Uganda.