Composition analysis of falsified chloroquine phosphate samples seized during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The proliferation of falsified medicines can cause serious public health issues, particularly in the context of a global pandemic such as the actual COVID-19 pandemic. Our study involved eight chloroquine phosphate medicines seized in Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Niger during March and May 2020. These suspect samples were first analyzed in a screening phase using field tools such as handheld Raman spectroscopy (TruScan) and then in a confirmation phase using laboratory tools such as hyperspectral Raman imaging and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The results confirmed the falsified nature of the samples, highlighting the presence of metronidazole at low dose in four samples (16.6, 15.2, 15.2 and 14.5 mg/tab), too low levels of chloroquine in two samples (2.4 and 20.2 mg/tab), and substitution of chloroquine phosphate by paracetamol in one sample (255.7 mg/tab). The results also confirmed that four samples had been adulterated with paracetamol in trace amounts and two of them presented traces of chloramphenicol.
['Waffo Tchounga|C A|CA|', 'Sacre|P Y|PY|', 'Ciza|P|P|', 'Ngono|R|R|', 'Ziemons|E|E|', 'Hubert|Ph|P|', 'Marini|R D|RD|']
D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal D000962:Antimalarials D000086382:COVID-19 D002738:Chloroquine D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid D058110:Counterfeit Drugs D006801:Humans D058873:Pandemics D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman D013607:Tablets
Chloroquine phosphate COVID-19 Chromatography Substandard/falsified medicines Vibrational spectroscopy