New paper analytical devices can screen fake antimalarial drugs

Jun 1 2013

On Wednesday, 5/29/13, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled "Africa's Malaria Battle: Fake Drug Pipeline Undercuts Progress." The piece outlines a counterfeit pharmaceutical problem that is top of mind at Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, IN. Chemistry Professor Toni Barstis and her undergraduate students at this Catholic, women's, liberal arts college have researched and developed Paper Analytical Devices (PADs) that can screen whether an antimalarial drug is real. What they have developed, along with researchers at the University of Notre Dame, are inexpensive PADs, the size of a business card, that are simple to use and provide almost immediate results. There are two patents pending for the research.

One Congolese street peddler of the suspected fake drugs told the Wall Street Journal, "I have no equipment to analyze them so I can't know if they work or not." This tool could change that. To check for counterfeit ingredients, a person simply swipes the pill onto the chemically treated PAD and dips the PAD in water. Color changes on the paper indicate both suspicious and authentic ingredients. The screening takes less than five minutes and can be done by anyone.

Fake pills often include the pain reliever acetaminophen. It's a tricky practice because the patient likely feels better after taking the pill, but the treatment is not healing the person of the disease. Because the PAD checks for the presence of acetaminophen, it can be modified to screen other counterfeited drugs like antibiotics and Tamiflu, the influenza medication.

As discussed in the article, bogus anti-malarial drugs threaten to undermine years of progress in tackling the disease in Africa. It's time to meet this problem head on.

As Professor Barstis has noted, "Each Saint Mary's student researcher, past and present, has been driven by a desire to combine her scientific education with that of service. Our students, like the College's founders—the Sisters of the Holy Cross—are strong, educated women who recognize a problem and respond with a creative solution."

Source: Saint Mary's College