As a first step in tracking this global issue, IDDO’s Medicine Quality Research Group, with the MORU Tropical Health Network and supported by a grant from the Wellcome Trust, has today launched a new, free-to-use, online tool, the Medicine Quality Monitoring Globe, (MQM Globe) which maps SF news reports worldwide in real time. 

With the recent emergence of COVID-19 late, there has been a growing number of reports of falsified masks, diagnostic tests, medicines and vaccines, and in light of this, there has never been a more urgent need for a shared global tool to track SF medical products.

The MQM Globe maps real-time media reports on the quality of medical products across the world. Its database is continually updated and includes medicines, vaccines, biologics and diagnostics and now has a COVID-19 search function to include reports of COVID-19 related SF medical products, including masks, diagnostic tests, medicines and vaccines. Users can tailor their searches filtering by key words, time-periods, locations and language, with on-screen results available in English, Spanish, Mandarin and French. The search system was developed by HealthMap of Boston Children's Hospital. 

Professor Paul Newton, who leads the Research Group, said: “The Medicine Quality Monitoring Globe will prove a valuable resource to the many individuals, researchers and public health organisations working in this area. For the first time, users can freely access global reports of substandard and falsified medical products in one place to track what may be happening in their communities, their country and around the world. There are a growing number of reports of falsified masks, diagnostic tests, medicines and vaccines for COVID-19 infection and we fear that these will continue to increase.”

Dr Céline Caillet, Group Coordinator commented: “Assessing the scale of the problem globally with new tools like the Medicine Quality Monitoring Globe is a key first step. Little research has been done in this area and there is an urgent need for wider, multidisciplinary research to build the evidence base globally for informing interventions and policy to ensure that we all have access to good quality medical products.”

About the Medicine Quality Monitoring Globe

The MQM Globe holds data from July 2018 and tracks:

•        The quality of medicines/medical products, including vaccines, medical devices, traditional and herbal medicines, vitamins, weight loss medicines, nutritional supplement, veterinary medicines, blood products and psychoactive substances, if the quality of these products is suspected.
•        Recalls, seizures, diversions, thefts, degradation, adulteration or contamination of medicines, cases of patients suffering adverse effects/lack of efficacy after taking a medicine suspected to be substandard or falsified.
•        General discussion, development/marketing of a new system or technologies to identify or prevent poor quality medicines, and articles on new laws/regulations.

Poor quality medical products jeopardise national, regional and global attempts to improve access to effective health care because they lead to avoidable morbidity and mortality, waste financial resources, and contribute to drug resistance. The World Health Organization estimates that in low and middle-income countries, around 10% of medicines are of poor quality. However, the true extent of the problem is still unknown. There are important caveats when interpreting these data as the news reports in the Medicines Quality Monitoring Globe usually will not have scientific confirmation. Therefore, please interpret the information in the Globe with caution – they are warnings of problems that may need further investigation.

Substandard medical products result from errors, corruption, negligence, or poor practice in manufacturing, procurement, regulation, transportation, or storage. In contrast, falsified products result from criminal fraud. Although they have been traded for many centuries, in the last few decades the problem has grown due to the increased complexity of the global pharmaceutical economy and internet sales.

Find out more about the Medicine Quality Research Group’s work here.

The programme is led by Bio Ventures for Global Health and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a global consortium that accelerates research and development for malaria, tuberculosis, and NTDs through research collaborations; and the Government of Australia.

They are looking for laboratory scientists who currently lead, or are part of, a research program in their institutes or universities and have a strong interest in developing additional skills in the areas of diagnostic, vaccine, or drug discovery research and development for malaria, tuberculosis, and NTDs.

Research sabbaticals will range from three to six months, and start in September. Sabbaticals will focus on product development of vaccines, diagnostics and drugs for NTDs, malaria, and tuberculosis research.

Funding will cover fellows’ visa applications, flights, and a living allowance. The deadline is March 29, and enquiries and completed applications should be emailed to Joseph Hargan-Calvopiña at jhargan@bvgh.org

Tell us about your career and research in visceral leishmaniasis

I have had a long career with visceral leishmaniasis (VL), I first started working on discovery and development of new drugs for VL in 1981. During that time, I have worked at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, as well as the Wellcome Foundation in the UK. I was also the first Research and Development Director of DNDi, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative. Throughout that time, I have had a strong interest and commitment to bring new treatments to patients. I have been successful in some ways – I was part of the teams that discovered and developed miltefosine and liposomal amphotericin B. It has been very interesting to see how they have been used, and sometimes misused, in the treatment of this disease.

What led to your involvement in the IDDO’s VL platform?

I started talking with IDDO’s Director Philippe Guérin, about three years ago on the idea of having a proper archive for all the clinical studies that have been done on VL. I have a good understanding of the types of VL clinical studies that have been conducted over the years across Europe, South and Central America, East Africa and in the Indian sub-continent.

What are your reflections on the value of the IDDO VL data-sharing model?

In terms of data management, I think the collection and archiving of the data is essential due to the range of clinical studies that have been conducted worldwide. The studies have not actually been properly compared in terms of their outcomes, the standard drugs that are being used to compare with, and the types of populations – whether they have been adults, or children. The studies have also looked at all the different forms of visceral leishmaniasis including cutaneous leishmaniasis, post Kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis and HIV and visceral leishmaniasis. It is only through collecting all the data together that the ability of the community to analyse and make meaningful inferences about the data will be possible.

On the ethical front, for me this is linked to governance. Governance is about inclusion of all stakeholders. IDDO has centrally addressed this by including members on its scientific advisory committee from all the different endemic areas. There is also a strong imperative to ensure that all the studies are archived to the best possible ethical values.

What are your thoughts on what the VL platform has achieved so far?

I think the first achievement has been the development of a research agenda, which sets out the priorities of what can be collected from these archives, what can be analysed, what outcomes can be achieved through the analysis, and most importantly how the analysis can be used to improve further clinical studies and identify where the big gaps are in our knowledge.

I think the inclusion of members of the advisory committee and also stakeholders in the development of this research agenda has been essential to building up the research community and ensuring they are invested and engaged in the purpose and outcomes of the data platform.  

What do you think the future benefits will be of the VL data platform and how can it serve the wider community?

The most important, immediate issue is that for the first time in history there are six candidate drugs coming through the pipeline, three from DNDi, one from Novartis, and two from a GlaxoSmithKline/University of Dundee partnership. As these are new drugs they can hopefully be oral, be safer than previous drugs and it is essential that a platform and archiving system is already prepared so the data from these new drugs can immediately be used to compare the responses of patients, in the different regions, against the different forms of visceral leishmaniasis to the present drugs.

The second issue is that we know people in the future will want to publish in high impact journals. For this there has to be a record of where the data is archived. This will enable clinicians to have a direct archiving and numbering facility which they can refer to in their publications.

The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, RSTMH, welcome application for grants of up to £5,000 for clinical or scientific research or fieldwork.

Priority will be given to work in the following areas:

• Neglected tropical diseases, with a particular focus on their overlap with non-communicable diseases and the Sustainable Development Goals
• Malaria, with a particular focus on drug resistance
• One Health and wider planetary health. The consideration of human health alongside animal health and the environment, in the context of social, economic and political factors
• Topical issues including, but not limited to, emerging diseases
• Drug resistant infections

Applications close on 15 April 2020. For more information view here.

Under the Commonwealth Split-site Scholarship, PhD candidates will spend up to 12 months at a UK university as part of their doctoral studies in their home country, to start in October 2020.

Aimed at supporting study in the UK, the scheme is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to enable talented and motivated individuals to gain the knowledge and skills required for sustainable development.

Scholarships are available under six themes:

• Science and technology for development
• Strengthening health systems and capacity
• Promoting global prosperity
• Strengthening global peace, security and governance
• Strengthening resilience and response to crises
• Access, inclusion and opportunity

 The closing date for applications is November 6, 2019. For more information view here.