Malaria drug recalled
An anti-malarial drug that is available on the Ugandan market has been withdrawn in Kenya after a fake product was found under the same name.
By Charles Wendo
An anti-malarial drug that is available on the Ugandan market has been withdrawn in Kenya after a fake product was found under the same name.
Holley-Cotec Pharmaceuticals of China is withdrawing 20,000 doses of Duo-cotecxin from the Kenyan market due to a counterfeit syndicate, the BBC reported yesterday.
It is not yet clear where the counterfeits came from, but they are believed to have their origin in Asia.
Sources at the National Drug Authority (NDA) confirmed that Duo-cotecxin is registered for Malaria treatment in Uganda and costs about sh20,000 per dose in Kampala.
However, NDA has not yet received a communication from the manufacturer on whether Uganda would be affected by the withdrawal.
“We want to know what batches are affected and if those batches are in Uganda,†said the source.
Duo-cotecxin is one of the most powerful anti-malarials, recommended by the World Health Organisation. It contains dihydroartemisinin (DHA) and 320mg of piperaquine.
However, tests in Kenya showed that the counterfeit version did not have sufficient quantities of the ingredients and therefore patients taking them would not be cured of malaria.
Eric Law, Holley-Cotec Pharmaceuticals’ vice-president, told BBC they would later re-introduce the drug in a form that cannot be confused with a counterfeit.
“We are going to introduce a new technology to tamper-proof the doses that will be supplied to replace the withdrawn drugs,†Law told the BBC News Website.
An anti-malarial drug that is available on the Ugandan market has been withdrawn in Kenya after a fake product was found under the same name.
Holley-Cotec Pharmaceuticals of China is withdrawing 20,000 doses of Duo-cotecxin from the Kenyan market due to a counterfeit syndicate, the BBC reported yesterday.
It is not yet clear where the counterfeits came from, but they are believed to have their origin in Asia.
Sources at the National Drug Authority (NDA) confirmed that Duo-cotecxin is registered for Malaria treatment in Uganda and costs about sh20,000 per dose in Kampala.
However, NDA has not yet received a communication from the manufacturer on whether Uganda would be affected by the withdrawal.
“We want to know what batches are affected and if those batches are in Uganda,†said the source.
Duo-cotecxin is one of the most powerful anti-malarials, recommended by the World Health Organisation. It contains dihydroartemisinin (DHA) and 320mg of piperaquine.
However, tests in Kenya showed that the counterfeit version did not have sufficient quantities of the ingredients and therefore patients taking them would not be cured of malaria.
Eric Law, Holley-Cotec Pharmaceuticals’ vice-president, told BBC they would later re-introduce the drug in a form that cannot be confused with a counterfeit.
“We are going to introduce a new technology to tamper-proof the doses that will be supplied to replace the withdrawn drugs,†Law told the BBC News Website.