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Table 1 A partial summary of PQAs reported in the literature from 2011 to 2017

From: Are we doing enough to prevent poor-quality antimalarial medicines in the developing world?

Drug(s)

Issue

Number of PQM failed/tested (%)

Country

Study

Artemisinin-based drugs, halofantrine

Incorrect amount of API, API absent entirely, quinine substituted for artesunate

35/59 (59%)

Burkina Faso, Chad, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal

Newton et al. 2011 [34]

Artesunate

No artesunate present

1 (case report)

Equatorial Guinea

Chaccour et al. 2012 [13]

Artemisinin-based drugs, chloroquine, primaquine

Incorrect amount of API

18/77 (23%)

Guyana

Evans et al. 2012 [35]

Incorrect packaging

30/77 (38%)

Artesunate and amodiaquine

Incorrect amount of API

13/16 (81%)

Ghana

Affum et al. 2013 [36]

Artemisinin-based drugs

Incorrect amount of API

13/14 (92%)

Ghana

El-Duah et al. 2012 [37]

Artemisinin-based drugs, chloroquine, quinine, primaquine, amodiaquine

Incorrect amount of API

36/301 (11%)

Papua New Guinea

Hetzel et al. 2014 [38]

Artemisinin-based drugs

Incorrect amount of API

94/124 (by HPLC) (75%) 112/125 (by SQ-TLC) (89%)

Ghana and Togo

Osei-Safo et al. 2014 [39]

Artemisinin-based drugs

Incorrect amount of API

69/1737 (4%)

Tanzania

ACT Consortium Drug Quality Project Team 2015 [40]

Artemisinin-based drugs

Incorrect amount of API

206/3024 (6%)

Nigeria

Kaur et al. 2015 [41]

Falsified (0% API)

35/3024 (1%)

Degradation products of API present

38/3024 (1%)

Artemisinin-based drugs, chloroquine, quinine, sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine

Incorrect amount of API, incorrect labelling

8/28 (28%)

Cambodia

Yong et al. 2015 [42]

Incorrect amount of API

1/7 (14%)

Indonesia

Incorrect amount of API, counterfeit packaging

15/30 (50%)

Laos

Incorrect amount of API

1/10 (10%)

Myanmar

Incorrect amount of API

4/8 (50%)

Thailand

Incorrect amount of API

1/12 (8%)

Vietnam

Artemisinin-based drugs

Incorrect amount of API

91/291 (31%)

Cambodia

Yeung et al. 2015 [43]

Expired at time of purchase

21/212 (9%)

Range of antimalarial drugs

Incorrect amount of API

9/146 (6%)

Laos

Tabernero et al. 2015 [44]

Range of antimalarial drugs

Incorrect amount of API

12/37 (32%)

Afghanistan

Lalani et al. 2015 [45]

Artemisinin-based drugs

Expired at time of purchase

23/256 (8%)

Ghana

Tivura et al. 2016 [46]

Incorrect amount of API

90/254 (35%)

Quinine sulfate

Incorrect amount of API

7/56a (12%)

Malawi

Khuluza et al. 2017 [47]

Sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine (multiple different samples)

Both stated APIs absent but other APIs present; falsified identity; incorrect amount of API

Artemisinin-based drugs

Incorrect amount of API

11/30 (36%)

Nigeria

Izevbekhai et al. 2017 [48]

  1. API active pharmaceutical ingredient, HPLC high-performance liquid chromatography, SQ-TLC semi-quantitative thin-layer chromatography; a - pharmaceuticals tested included antibiotics