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Chinese Malaria Drugs Recalled In Kenya
BBC News
August17, 2007
A Chinese pharmaceutical firm plans to recall thousands of
anti-malarial drugs supplied to Kenya after discovering a counterfeit syndicate.
The vice-president of Holley-Cotec Pharmaceuticals said
20,000 doses of Duo-cotecxin will be removed from sale. He told the BBC an
analysis of the counterfeit product showed it had very low active ingredients
and patients taking it would not be cured. An estimated 35,000 people die of
malaria in Kenya each year.
Duo-cotecxin is one of the artemisinin-based combination
therapy drugs highly recommended by World Health Organization to treat malaria
and is widely supplied in government and private hospitals in Kenya. A full
dose of Duo-cotecxin costs about $5 in Kenya, the counterfeited drug is being
sold for less than $1.
New technology
The Ministry of Health has been spearheading a campaign to
crack down on counterfeit drugs that are readily available in the Kenyan market.
Dr Willy Akwale, who heads the government anti-malaria
control unit, said this is the first case of a counterfeit supply of artemisinin
combination therapy drugs. "There have been many counterfeits on the sulphur-based
anti-malaria drugs before, forcing us to have difficulties in countering the
disease," Dr Akwale told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
Eric Law, Holley-Cotec Pharmaceuticals' vice-president, said
they are yet to locate the source of the counterfeits, but there is strong
evidence linking the supplies to Asia. "We are now going to introduce a new
technology to tamper-proof the doses that will be supplied to replace the
withdrawn drugs," Mr Law told the BBC News Website.
Health officials warn of a global health catastrophe if a
growing trade in fake anti-malarial drugs leads to widespread
resistance. Sophisticated trans-national gangs are thought to be behind the
counterfeit drugs, a fast-growing multibillion dollar business.
Meanwhile, the Kenyan government said on Thursday that there
has been a dramatic rise in the number of children sleeping under insecticide
treated mosquito nets. It said that a two-year campaign to provide nets at
subsidised prices has resulted in more than two-thirds of under five-year-olds
sleeping under them.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6951586.stm
