Drug counterfeiting has become a problem of immense magnitude worldwide which has aroused a significant level of attention among researchers, managers and policy makers. The counterfeit drug industry is estimated to be worth $200 billion a year [1] and has been defined as the “The crime of the 21st century” (ACG Report 2003), present in almost every industry with Asia appearing to be the single...

DEAR EDITOR, World Health Organization defines a counterfeit medicine as the one which is deliberately and fraudulently mislabeled with respect to identity and/ or source. It incorporates both branded and generic products and even includes products with correct/ wrong/insufficient/no active ingredients, or fake packaging. However, the European Union has proposed falsified medicines as a more ap...

Counterfeiting of drugs has now become a lucrative multi-billion dollar business that threatens the effective delivery of health care services. Apart from Africa and other marginally developed parts of the world, the developed economies are equally not spared from the bane of this trade. To combat this menace, concerted efforts are needed from various facets of the community. In addition to vis...

Plain (unbranded) packaging for cigarettes is at the top of the tobacco control agenda in both Australia and Europe. The evidence suggests that it will benefit public health by decreasing the appeal of tobacco products and increasing the power of the health warning. The tobacco industry instead argues that plain packaging would make it easier to counterfeit cigarettes, which would both confuse ...

Photonic crystal structures can be created to manipulate electromagnetic waves so that many studies have focused on designing photonic band-gaps for various applications including sensors, LEDs, lasers, and optical fibers. Here, we show that mono-layered, self-assembled photonic crystals (SAPCs) fabricated by using an inkjet printer exhibit extremely weak structural colors and multiple colorful...

Laboratory of Inorganic and Nuclear Chemistry, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, New York, USA ABSTRACT A closed-vessel microwave-digestion method was developed for the determination of trace amounts of Be, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Mo, Cd, Sb, Ba, Tl, and Pb by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and Hg by cold-vapor atomic absorption spectrometry...

All intellectual property rights, including copyright in this publication, except for those attributed to named sources, are owned by the author(s) of this research memorandum. No part of this publication may be copied or transmitted in any form without the prior written consent from the author(s) whose contact address is given on the title page of the research memorandum. Abstract This researc...

A fast headspace GC-MS method was developed and validated for the detection and quantification of residual solvents of all three ICH-classes in counterfeit tablets and capsules. The method was validated for 10 solvents, selected based on an initial screening of counterfeit medicinal products. The considered solvents were ethanol, 2-propanol, acetone, ethylacetate, chloroform, carbon tetrachlori...