African Startup Using Phones to Spot Counterfeit Drugs
Drug Lane runs through a market in the heart of Accra, Ghana. It’s past the office towers going up to the east of the central business district, past the pushy vendors with fake Louis Vuitton luggage, and past the women selling trays of raw beef under the midday sun. The alley bristles with signboards for pills, powders, and other substances. One store is packed to the rafters with boxes of painkillers and antibiotics. On the wall are two posters: One is for Coartem, a malaria treatment made by the Swiss drug company Novartis, and the other advertises something called Recharger, supposedly made from the male silkworm moth. The notice is vague about specific uses, but it does advise using condoms.The man behind the counter, Yaw Frempong, can’t recommend either drug—at least not formally. Like 85 percent of the people selling medicine in Ghana, he isn’t a pharmacist. Most of his stock comes from China, India, and Malaysia, imported by Ghanaian distributors who supply everyone from “licensed chemical sellers” like him to actual pharmacies and hospitals.
Related Posts
MMEA Labuan Destroys Contraband Cigarettes, Liquor Worth RM700,000
The Labuan Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) disposed contraband...
Eight Arrested for Manufacturing and Selling Fake Ginger-Garlic Paste in Hyderabad
Hyderabad: In a major crackdown, the Commissioner’s Task Force, along with the...
Liquor haul at Bihar border
STATE DIGEST: Protest against changes in labour laws and farm bill; zero...
Chamber Calls For Intensive Campaign Against Smuggling
Africa Chamber of Commerce, Mr Foluso Phillips, yesterday in Lagos called on...