Centre finds way to detect fake drugs
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Centre for Surface and Materials Analysis product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Apr 20, 2006
Materials centre develops way to detect counterfeit drugs which could revolutionise detection practice in the pharmaceutical industry.
The Centre for Surface and Materials Analysis (CSMA), based in Stoke-on-Trent, has developed a method for detecting counterfeit drugs that could alter detection practice in the pharmaceutical industry.
The work, carried out in collaboration with Glaxo Smith Kline, was conducted in response to requests from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) for major drug companies to do more to combat the growing problem of counterfeit drugs, which currently accounts for 10% of the global pharmaceuticals market.
By using surface analysis techniques to examine ingredient content and dispersal at the extreme surface of a drug, the CSMA has developed a method of detecting differences in manufacturing routes.
Drugs produced using manufacturing methods other than those employed by the original pharmaceutical companies can therefore be identified.
Although further development of the detection system is required, the research is already being hailed as a breakthrough.
Rob Mitchell, who led the research programme at the CSMA, said: "The circulation of counterfeit drugs costs the pharmaceutical industry billions, both in terms of revenue loss and in developing programmes to help combat the problem".
"Add to this the fact that, at their crudest, counterfeit drugs may contain ingredients that are detrimental to the health of the patient, possibly even fatal, and it is clear to see how important this research is".
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