More fake Chinese pharmaceuticals

Heard a story on this topic this morning on NPR. Fake antimalarial drugs are now all over the place in Myanmar and Thailand -- a hotspot for development of drug-resistant strains. No surprise, in that the fakes sometimes contain small quantities of real antimalarial drugs: too little to kill the parasites, but enough to promote development of drug resistance. The irony is that the latest weapon against malaria, artemisinin, is of Chinese origin. China gives, and China takes away.

FDA bulletin here; a recent article from the Boston Globe here. The same area is also of major concern for the development of drug-resistant strains of TB.

Posted by David on June 4, 2007 11:31 AM