Either too many authors are submitting substandard articles or too many reviewers are setting unrealistically high hurdles over which authors have to jump.
This narrative review was based on literature searches conducted using PubMed to identify English-language articles giving relevant examples of substandard drugs; identified articles were hand searched for further relevant examples.
On June 2, The Sichuan Economic Daily published an article saying that substandard construction methods contributed to the deaths of 82 students at a middle school in Yinghua Township.
Using examples identified through this search, the article will review information on substandard medicines, including the following: inappropriate API content, impurities and inconsistent pharmacological response due to variable drug content; the prevalence of and potential adverse health effects associated with use of substandard drugs; and methods by which drug quality might be improved.
This article reviews the different aspects of substandard drug formulation that can occur (for example, pharmacological variability between drug batches or between generic and originator drugs, incorrect drug quantity and presence of impurities).
This article reflects a worrisome state of substandard ANC in rural Tanzania resulting from inadequate human workforce and material resources for maternal health, and its adverse impacts on maternal wellbeing.
This article reflects a worrisome state of substandard antenatal care in rural Tanzania resulting from complex interacting factors including persistent lack of skilled human and material resources as well as irresponsive leadership in the health sector.
In several articles, Roger Bate has drawn attention to substandard drug seizures in India, and to his own small-scale studies (in one, of five medicines from 52 pharmacies; in another, a total of 720 samples were purchased).
While some information is documented in peer-reviewed journals (as shown above) or official reports, much of our current awareness of the problem of substandard drugs is due to press reports, Internet articles and anecdotal accounts.
Walt and Mearsheimer - who are both rational men - undoubtedly considered the likely consequences of publishing their views and concluded that the anti-Israel nature of their article would shield them from criticisms of its substandard academic quality.
In this article, we aim to raise awareness of the problem of substandard drugs; a problem that we regard as having the potential to be a public-health crisis.
