By Asma’u Uba Muhammad
A US and pan-African research group has published findings of its research this week, revealing an alarming rate of how cancer patients in four African Countries are taking defective drugs.
There’s an alarming number of people across Africa who might be taking cancer drugs that don’t contain the vital ingredients needed to contain or reduce their ailments, the research showed.
The researchers had collected dosage information, sometimes covertly, from a dozen hospitals and 25 pharmacies across Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Cameroon.
It’s a concerning finding with roots in a complex problem on how to regulate a range of therapeutics across the continent.
They tested nearly 200 unique products across several brands. Around 17% — roughly one in six — were found to have incorrect active ingredient levels, including products used in major hospitals.
Patients who receive insufficient dosages of these ingredients could see their tumors keep growing, and possibly even spread.
Similar numbers of substandard antibiotics, antimalarial and tuberculosis drugs have been reported in the past, but this is the first time that such a study has found high levels of falsified or defective anticancer drugs in circulation.
“I was not surprised by these results,” said Lutz Heide, a pharmacist at the University of Tübingen in Germany who has previously worked for the Somali Health Ministry and has spent the past decade researching substandard and falsified medicines.
Heide was not part of the investigative group, but said the report shed light on a problem not previously measured.