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Identification of Counterfeit TB Treatment Drugs
Author(s) -
May Elizabeth,
Williams Scott
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.716.18
Subject(s) - counterfeit drugs , tuberculosis , medicine , infectious disease (medical specialty) , drug , counterfeit , disease , drug resistance , antimicrobial , intensive care medicine , pharmacology , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , pathology , political science , law
Tuberculosis is a disease causes by a bacterial infection, usually of the lungs. It is among the top ten killer infectious diseases, and is the leading cause of death in those infected with HIV. TB can be treated with a cocktail of drugs that destroy the disease‐causing bacteria, but strains of drug‐resistant TB are quickly becoming a problem in countries without advanced health care infrastructure and regulation. There are many factors that contribute to the development of drug‐resistance, including the distribution and widespread availability of substandard and falsified medicines for the treatment of TB. Evidence suggests that antiparasitic and antimicrobial drugs, such as those used in the treatment of TB, are the most counterfeited pharmaceutical products in developing countries, and that these substandard products contribute to anti‐tuberculosis drug resistance. There is a need for a field‐ready assay for the detection of counterfeit medication for the treatment of tuberculosis, and the development of such an assay is the objective of this research project. Targeted reactions will be presented that distinguish the active pharmaceutical ingredients from a list of known counterfeits. Additionally, the assay is intended to be able to quantify the amount of the active chemical present so that the proper dosage can be verified.