USP sets up Ghana centre to tackle substandard, fake drugs

The US Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) has launched a new initiative to combat counterfeit drugs in sub-Saharan Africa that will be run from a unit in Ghana.

The USP's Centre for Pharmaceutical Advancement and Training (CePAT) - based in Ghana's capital Accra - is the first in a series of initiatives aimed at helping emerging economies become self-sufficient in the production, distribution and oversight of quality medicines.

CePAT is being launched as a Commitment to Action through the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) and is "a natural extension of USP's core mission of establishing public standards for the quality of medicines, foods, and dietary supplements," according to the organisation's chief executive Roger Williams.

It will provide training programmes on quality control and good manufacturing practices, amongst other activities.

"As USP has become increasingly active throughout the world, the need to support efforts to provide good quality medicines to everyone who requires them has become more important," Williams added.

Substandard and counterfeit medicines are a major problem in Sub-Saharan Africa, with one study carried out by USP and USAID's Promoting the Quality of Medicines (PQM) Programme finding more than 90 per cent of drug samples tested failed either the test for active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) content or sterility. Only three of the 26 products tested were registered with the Ghana Food and Drug Authority. 

A follow-up study by the PQM and World Health Organization (WHO) found 44 per cent of drug samples tested in Senegal failed to meet quality standards, with failure rates in Madagascar and Uganda coming in at 30 per cent and 26 per cent, respectively.

"Serious public health issues related to poor quality medicines have been linked to lack of trained human resources, in countries with limited resources," said Patrick Lukulay, vice president of USP's Global Health Impact Programs (GHIP), who also oversees CePAT operations.

"With the centre, we want to bring the opportunity to improve local quality assurance systems by training national regulatory agencies and quality control professionals so they can fight the problem of fake and substandard medicines in a sustainable way," he added.