PQM News & Resource Center

• February 2013
• December 2012
• September 2012
• June 2012
• April 2012
• March 2012

• Handheld Device for Detecting Counterfeit and Substandard Medicines Tested by PQM (Feb 20, 2013)
• First Anti-tuberculosis Medicine under USAID-Supported Promoting the Quality of Medicines Program Achieves WHO Prequalification Status (Feb 7, 2013)
• Collaborative Focus on Fight against Counterfeit, Substandard Medicines in Greater Mekong Sub-region (Sep 12, 2012)
• New Research Reveals Extent of Poor-Quality Antimalarial Medicines in South American Countries (Aug 1, 2012)
• New Technology Represents Next-Generation Tool for Detecting Substandard and Counterfeit Medicines (Jul 26, 2012)
• National Laboratory for Medicine Quality Testing Inaugurated in Mozambique (Jul 12, 2012)
• Reducing the Threat of Counterfeits, Investing in the Future of Safe Medicines (Apr 9, 2012)
• Making Affordable, Good-quality Tuberculosis Medicine a Reality (Mar 1, 2012)
• Commitment to Quality Medicines Strengthened in Ethiopia with International Laboratory Accrediation (Dec 1, 2011)
• U.S. Standards Organization Applauds Program's Ten-Year Fight against Malaria (Sep 15, 2011)
• U.S. Program Supports Ethiopia in Combating Substandard Counterfeit Medicines (Jun 30, 2011)
• New Database to Help Track Quality of Medicines in Global Markets (Apr 5, 2011)
• Cambodian Officials Identify, Pull Counterfeit Drugs from Market (Feb 17, 2011)
• Medicines Quality in Five Sub-Saharan African Countries to Benefit from USP Pilot Program (Feb 8, 2011)
• Substandard and Counterfeit Antimalarial Drugs in Ghana Discovered by Cooperative Program of USP, Ghana Food and Drugs Board (Nov 8, 2010)
• New Liberian Regulatory Authority Aims to Advance Public Health (Oct 14, 2010)
• Medicine Quality in the Philippines and Region Strengthened with Philippine FDA's Accreditation (Jul 12, 2010)
• PQM/GPHF Develop New Minilab® Test Methods (Mar 23, 2010)
• One-Third of Antimalarial Medicines Sampled in Three African Nations Found to be Substandard in Large-Scale USP-WHO Study (Feb 8, 2010)

• Video Demonstration: How to use the MQDB
• Access Database and Information

• February 2013

• PQM Fact Sheet How USAID/USP assists developing countries strengthen their medicines quality control.
• “Implementation of Basic Quality Control Tests for Malaria Medicines in Amazon Basin Countries: Results for the 2005–2010 Period” (Malaria Journal 2012, 11:202)
• “Quality of Antimalarials Collected in the Private and Informal Sectors in Guyana and Suriname” (Malaria Journal, 2012, 11:203)
• "Focus on Drug Quality: Improving global initiatives for lasting impact" (Monday Developments Magazine article, Sept 2011)
• Ensuring the Quality of Medicines in Resource-Limited Countries: An Operational Guide
  Developed by drug quality experts from the World Health Organization, Management Sciences for Health, PATH, and Organon, and government health officials from Malaysia, Vietnam, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, it provides guidance for developing countries on how to improve drug quality and quality assurance controls.
• Case Studies for Global Health An inside look at the ways in which the complex challenges of developing and delivering effective healthcare for the developing world have been addressed.
• Guidelines for Field Surveys of the Quality of Medicines: A Proposal (PLoS Medicine article, Mar 2009)
• "A Collaborative Epidemiological Investigation into the Criminal Fake Artesunate Trade in South East Asia" (PLoS Medicine article, Feb 2008)
• PQM/DQI Success Stories: Fact sheets that highlight regional activities and successes.
  • Southeast Asia
  • Amazon Malaria Initiative
  • Ethiopia
  • Ghana
  • Technical Assistance to TB Manufacturers
  • Russia
  • DQI

• Post-Market Quality Surveillance Project—Maternal Healthcare Products (Oxytocin and Ergometrine) Post-marketing quality surveillance was carried out to assess the quality of uterotonics on the Ghanaian market between August and September of 2012. A total of 303 samples were tested from both public and private hospitals, clinics, medical stores, pharmaceutical outlets, and the informal sector across ten regions of Ghana.
• Production of Zinc Tablets and Zinc Oral Solutions: Guidelines for Programme Managers and Pharmaceutical Manufacturers WHO and UNICEF revised recommendations for the management of diarrhea aimed at reducing the number of deaths due to diarrhea by adding zinc supplementation to traditional rehydration therapy. This report guides policy makers and program managers to procure quality zinc products, and pharmaceutical manufacturers to develop them.
• Strengthening National Capacity in Medicines Quality: Five-year Summary (2005–2009), Promoting the Quality of Medicines Program In Southeast Asia and the Philippines
  Report of collaborative efforts to improve the quality of medicines circulating in these countries' markets, enabling them to reduce the prevalence of counterfeit and substandard medicines in the Mekong Region.
• Survey of the Quality of Selected Antimalarial Medicines Circulating in Madagascar, Senegal, and Uganda (QAMSA) First findings from a collaborative study by the World Health Organization and DQI/PQM on the quality of key antimalarial medicines in Sub-Saharan African countries. The QAMSA Study covers 10 countries in total; the findings in this subject report focus on the three countries for which DQI was responsible-Madagascar, Senegal, and Uganda.
• Antimalarial Medicines Quality Study at Cambodian-Thai Cross-Border Areas, A Component of the World Health Organization ARC3 Project Report of evidence data collected via a study on the quality of antimalarial medicines circulating in the cross-border areas of Western Cambodia and Eastern Thailand.
• Impact of Educational Programs on Prescribing Patterns of Antimicrobial Medicines in Multidisciplinary Hospitals in Different Regions of Russia Report on study to determine what impact the use of the Practical Guide on Anti-infection Chemotherapy (Guide) and implementation of the Distance Education Program have had on antimicrobial prescribing practices of physicians in in-patient healthcare facilities in Russia.

• Assessment Tools: These tools help to evaluate how a country's existing drug regulatory authority functions and how it might be improved with technical assistance and training:
• Rapid Assessment of Medicines QA/QC
  • Monitoring Indicators
  • Sampling Guidelines
  • Rapid Assessment of Pharmaceutical Supply System
• Visual Inspection of Medicines Tool: Developed with the International Council of Nurses, this checklist can help identify suspicious drug products.

• Three-level Approach to Medicines Quality Monitoring in Cambodia and Ghana Presented at the Third International Conference for Improving Use of Medicines (ICIUM); Antalya, Turkey; November 14–18, 2011
• Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP): Is It Possible in Developing Countries? Presented at the 2011 Global Health Conference; Washington, DC; June 14, 2011
• Three-Level Approach for Ensuring the Quality of Medicines in Resource-Limited Countries Presented at the 2010 ASTMH Annual Meeting; Atlanta, GA; November 4, 2010
• Medicines Quality Monitoring in Cambodia Presented at 2009 ASTMH Meeting; Washington, DC; November 17, 2009

View glossary

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Global Health Bureau primarily funds the PQM program through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Pharmacopeia to serve as a primary mechanism to help ensure the quality, safety, and efficacy of medicines essential to USAID priority diseases, particularly malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis.

PQM also collaborates with experts and organizations around the world:

• Amazon Malaria Initiative (AMI)
• Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics
• Global Pharma Health Fund (GPHF)
• International Pharmaceutical Federation
• Links Media
• Management Sciences for Health
• Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
• Research Triangle Institute (RTI)
• President's Malaria Initiative
• South American Infectious Diseases Initiative
• Stop TB Partnership
• United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
• U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
• World Health Organization