State, regulatory agencies have duty to stop sale of fake drugs

Pharmacy and Poisons Board team takes details of drugs impounded during a crackdown on illegally operated pharmacy outlets. [Standard]

World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of fake Augmentin tablets in Kenya. And this, after an alert was issued on fake malaria tablets, Duo Cotexin, last year. What this means is that there could be a number of medications in the market that do not meet WHO standards. It does not bear to think of the effects of such drugs on an unsuspecting population.

Augmentin is perhaps the most powerful first line antibiotic in the market. Resistance to it arising from use of the fake version of the drug could prove fatal in the long run. When patients develop resistance to first line antibiotics, it becomes a costly affair to be put on stronger second line antibiotics. Evidently, not many Kenyans can bear such cost. In 2016, WHO warned that resistance to antibiotics was growing to unmanageable levels, a trend that must be halted at all costs.