USP expands lab in Ghana to tackle low quality drugs

The US Pharmacopeia (USP) has increased capacity at a lab in Accra, Ghana, used to detect substandard and counterfeit medicines.

USP's Center for Pharmaceutical Advancement and Training (CePAT) - which set up the lab - said its quality control testing and training capabilities have been boosted while a new unit focusing on pharmaceutical microbiology has been opened, said to be the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa.

CePAT was launched in 2013 with the aim of providing high-quality analytical and training services to help strengthen the capacity of national regulatory authorities to detect counterfeit and substandard medicines and of pharmaceutical manufacturers to sustainably ensure the quality of their products.

Since then, CePAT says it has trained approximately 190 professionals from 32 African countries on a wide-range of pharmaceutical regulatory, quality assurance and quality control functions. 

The expanded centre will now offer "unique hands-on training for the regulatory and manufacturing sectors and additional quality control tests and preventative maintenance of analytical equipment," said USP.

It will also offer microbiology courses and French language versions of its courses.

In many African countries, regulatory systems are not equipped to detect substandard or counterfeit medicines and remove them from the market. Often, policies preventing their sale and distribution are either lacking or not followed, according to the USP.
 
"The costs of poor-quality medicines in African countries are enormous," it says. "It is estimated that more than 122,000 African children under the age of five die each year because of counterfeit antimalarials alone."

"Countless more individuals face failed treatments or fall into poverty because of the costs of procuring additional medicines or paying for hospitalizations."