FDA warns against counterfeit chloroquine on the market

The Food and Drug Authority (FDA) has raised concerns over counterfeit chloroquine flooding the Ghanaian market.

This information follows the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Global Surveillance and Monitoring System, which said fake chloroquine products were circulating in Africa.

“These chloroquine products with different presentations are confirmed as falsified on the basis that they deliberately [and] fraudulently misrepresent their composition or source,” the FDA said in a statement signed and issued by its Chief Executive, Delese A.A. Darko, said.

According to the FDA, these fake products do not contain the correct amount of the active pharmaceutical ingredients, based on the result of preliminary or full laboratory analysis.

Also, some of the products are either not produced by the manufacturer whose name is stated on the product labels, or the batch number and date do not correspond to genuine manufacturing records.

The Minister of Health in April approved chloroquine as a drug for the treatment of COVID-19, following the footsteps of the United States.

Although the drug was banned in Ghana in 2010 because of its lack of efficacy for the treatment of malaria, the minister said it was effective against COVID-19.

However, the World Health Organisation warned against its abuse, as it could cause serious side effect, especially at high doses or when combined with other medications.