We’ve posted on this subject before, but wanted to offer more on the subject from our friends at Australia’s On Line Opinion, where Roger Bate has written about tools to fight fake drugs:

Poor quality medicines are pervasive across Africa. The WHO reports that more than 30 per cent of medicines on sale in many African countries are counterfeit, with some pills containing nothing more than chalk or water.

The German Pharma Health Fund’s “Minilab” uses thin layer chromatography, disintegration and simple dye tests to help weed out the worst-quality products. Generally, a product will “pass” the Minilab test if it contains 80 per cent or more of the labelled active ingredient.

 Click Here to read the entire piece.