Substandard medical products

A Tropical Medicine and Hygiene editorial, published online 22 August 2012, draws attention to the negative impact of economic and commercial interests which have dramatically delayed progress in tackling poor quality medicines in the last six years. Arguing that the interest of the patient and his/her health should be paramount, Dr Raffaella Ravinetto and colleagues highlight the inadequacy of the current definitions – substandard as well as counterfeit or spurious medical products. They hope that the new World Health Assembly Member State mechanism will propose effective international collaboration to tackle the problem in a comprehensive, patient-centred way. Read more