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− | + | Counterfeit and substandard medicines are a growing problem in both the developed and | |
+ | developing world. All medicines—from antimalarials to cholesterol medication—can be | ||
+ | counterfeited, and as the fake drugs become more convincing, the danger of trained professionals | ||
+ | dispensing substandard medications increases 1 . These counterfeit drugs pose a risk not only to | ||
+ | the patients that receive ineffective and often dangerous fake drugs, but also to the public at large | ||
+ | as diluted and subpar quality medications increase the risk of drug resistance.</br> | ||
+ | In Africa, one of the most commonly faked drugs is the antimalarial artemisinin 2 . Because there | ||
+ | are fewer safeguards against counterfeit medicines, and because it can be difficult to find | ||
+ | legitimate sources of artemisinin, determining the authenticity of artemisinin samples is often of | ||
+ | paramount importance. Devices already exist that can test artemisinin samples to determine if | ||
+ | they are counterfeit, but these devices often require either sophisticated laboratory equipment or | ||
+ | training, which can be difficult to access in the field. Furthermore, no device currently exists that | ||
+ | can both sensitively and specifically determine if a sample of artemisinin is authentic. Because of | ||
+ | the import of developing a device that can be used to generate reliable results in the field, our | ||
+ | team has decided to develop a system that can be used to create a biosensor in a relatively short | ||
+ | period of time and be used with minimal training.</br> | ||
+ | In addition to the work that our team has done in researching the threat of counterfeit medicines, | ||
+ | one of our advisors has extensive knowledge of the danger fake drugs can pose: Dr. Esiobu has | ||
+ | done research into the state of counterfeit drugs around the globe in conjunction with the State | ||
+ | Department. Under her advisement, our team has focused on the most commonly faked drug in | ||
+ | Africa as a test of our system, but a similar approach can be applied to other drugs commonly | ||
+ | faked in Europe or the Americas such as antipsychotics and cholesterol blockers.</br> | ||
+ | </br> | ||
+ | ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ | ||
+ | </br> | ||
+ | 1 MBA, J. T. (2014, June 25). The Health and Economic Effects of Counterfeit Drugs. Retrieved October 01, 2017, | ||
+ | from http://www.ahdbonline.com/issues/2014/june-2014- vol-7- no-4/1756- the-health- and-economic- effects-of- | ||
+ | counterfeit-drugs | ||
+ | 2 Nayyar, G. M., Breman, J. G., Newton, P. N., & Herrington, J. (2012). Poor-quality antimalarial drugs in southeast | ||
+ | Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 12(6), 488-496. doi:10.1016/s1473-3099(12)70064- 6 | ||
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Revision as of 02:18, 2 November 2017
Florida_Atlantic