Improving Global Health with Novel Novel Handheld Counterfeit Drug Identifier

A key component of maintaining good drug quality is the ability to detect sub standard medicines rapidly and inexpensivelyso that more samples can be tested and swift action can be takenTo address this needan inexpensivesimple to usehand held deviceCounterfeit Drug Identifier or CoDIwas developed at CDCUnlike other commonly used field techniquesthe CoDI requires no toxic or flammable chemicals and leaves the sample intact and available for further studiesThe goal of this project is to develop a new generation of portableeasy to use CoDIs with adjustable parameter to provide greater versatility for use with a wider variety of medicinesA CoDI Prototype I has been produced and tested on confirmed counterfeit antimalarial drugs collected in AfricaIt was shown to beaccurate in discriminating genuine and counterfeit Coartemand identifying products from specific manufacturersand has successfully demonstratedproof of conceptof the technique used to identify a counterfeited productBased on experience from evaluating the CoDI Prototype Iimprovements in user friendliness and versatility can be made in order for the CoDI to be used for a wider variety of pharmaceuticals