Counterfeit
antimalarials (mainly
artemisinin derivatives) is a crucial health problem in developing countries, particularly in Africa. The illegal production, sale and distribution of
fake drugs is a huge market evaluated to several billion of dollars and represents more than 50% of the
pharmaceutical market in several African countries.
Fake drugs have led to a very great number of deaths from untreated
malaria or fatality provoked by toxic ingredients. These fake medicines increase the risk of
artemisinin resistance developed by the use of sub therapeutic dosages of
antimalarials. Tackling this criminal traffic is the objective of an international program created by WHO and involves the international police and custom organizations like INTERPOL. Several very important and encouraging results have been obtained, but the problem will be completely solved if genuine
antimalarials, free-of-charge, are handed-over to populations in sub Sahara African countries.