Counterfeit and substandard drugs are a serious global health problem. This is particularly true in parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where more than 30% of the medicines on sale can be counterfeit. To help protect consumers in these and other areas, the Global Pharma Health Fund (GPHF) developed Minilabs, as a portable and low-cost means of identifying counterfeit drugs.

Minilabs were designed to improve access to good quality, safe, and beneficial medicines, and can detect 75 active ingredients. Overall, more than 700 Minilabs have been supplied across 90 countries, including Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Madagascar, Nigeria and Tanzania, who have adopted the technology to test and monitor anti-malarial and other pharmaceutical drug quality.

How do Minilabs work? Verifying the quality of drugs using a GPHF-Minilab involves a four-stage test:

1. Packaging material is carefully inspected.
2. A simple tablet and capsule disintegration test is then administered to verify label claims on enteric-coating and other modified-release systems.
3. A color reaction test is done for a quick check of any drug present to verify label claims on identity.
4. Lastly, a test is done to quickly check drug content to verify label claims on potency.

To ensure that drugs are safe for consumers, a large number of samples need to be tested in order to maintain an appropriate assurance of drug quality and a high level of patient protection. For low-income countries, access to this magnitude of testing was cost prohibitive. With Minilabs, the field test kits are affordable and simple for rapid drug quality verification and counterfeit drug detection.

At CSIP, we are encouraged by the efforts of GPHF-Minilabs as an effective and economical way to combat rogue online pharmacies. In the U.S., we urge consumers to check all online pharmacy sites before they buy using our LegitScript Pharmacy Verification Tool, and educate themselves about the dangers of illegitimate online pharmaceuticals and pharmacies.

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The Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies (CSIP) and our 13 member companies have the shared goal of helping address the growing problem of consumer access to illegitimate pharmaceutical products on the Internet. Continue to read this blog for updates on CSIP’s education, enforcement and information-sharing efforts.