Electronic quality authentication-linked antimalarial drug survey in Sokoto metropolis, Nigeria Ajibola M. Umarudeen * , Maxwell O. Egua Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, University of Abuja, Abuja, Nigeria Chemotherapy remains a key malaria control strategy but the emergence of resistance to antimalarial drugs by the malaria parasite poses a threat to sustained positive impact of this strategy. Circulation and use of fake/substandard antimalarial drugs are major contributory factors to the development of malaria resistance to chemotherapeutic agents. This antimalarial drug survey was carried out by covert visits to randomly selected commercial drug outlets in Sokoto metropolis, Nigeria, by the research team. The scope of the survey included determining the variety of registered antimalarial drug brands available at the commercial drug outlets in the study area and finding out which of these brands have the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) registration numbers with or without the 12-digit (NAFDAC) PIN numbers for electronic drug quality authentication. A total of two thousand and two units of antimalarial drugs distributed across 78 brand names were sampled in this study. All the drugs sampled carried valid expiry dates and registration numbers but only 17 brands (21.79%) had the NAFDAC PIN numbers (and all of them were confirmed to be authentic). None of the syrup or suspension samples had the 12-digit PIN numbers. Sixty-one (78.21%) of the sampled brands spread across various formulations lacked the NAFDAC PIN numbers and their genuineness or sources could not be authenticated at the points of purchase. Keywords: Antimalarial drug survey, electronic quality authentication INTRODUCTION Malaria is a public health front liner in Nigeria with virtually all of her population at risk of the infection and accounting for about two-thirds of all hospital visits. It is estimated that Nigeria loses about 132 billion naira to malaria annually in terms of cost of malaria prevention, treatment and lost man-hours (Carrington, 2001; Jimoh et al., 2007). To combat the malaria menace, prompt malaria diagnosis and effective chemotherapy using Artemisinin – based antimalarial drug combinations was adopted in year 2005 as a key strategy in the National Malaria Control Programs (Eastman and Fidoc, 2009). However, the gains of this anti-malaria policy could be reversed by the emergence of malaria parasite’s resistance to antimalarial chemotherapeutic agents (Breman, 2012). Use of fake and/or substandard anti- malarial drugs has been shown to contribute substantially to the development of malaria parasite’s resistance to drugs (Tipke et al., 2008; Newton et al., 2010). Drug counterfeiting (antimalarial agents inclusive) is a global phenomenon (El-Duah and Ofori-Kwankye, 2012). In Nigeria, the counterfeit prevalence for all drugs was reported to be about 40% in 2001. Between then and now NAFDAC, the nation’s anti- drug counterfeit agency, has stepped up its regulatory activities including the introduction of Mobile Authentication Service and Truscan device. Consequently, the high counterfeit prevalence reported in 2001 for all drugs in general, and the antimalarial drugs in particular, was said to have dropped significantly within a period of about ten years (WHO, 2011; Kelesidis and Falagas, 2015). In Sokoto metropolis, as in most other Nigerian cities, anti-malarial medicines are sold on the counter to consumers often without prescription. But there is paucity of reports on the survey and quality assessment of anti-malarial medicines available in Sokoto using the NAFDAC-introduced mobile authentication service. This study was conducted to determine the variety of ABSTRACT International Archives of Medicine and Medical Sciences Original Article Print ISSN: 2705-1404; Online ISSN: 2705-1412 DOI: https://doi.org/10.33515/iamms/2019.028/28 *Corresponding Author: Dr. Ajibola M. Umarudeen, Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, University of Abuja, Abuja, Nigeria. E-mail: umarudeen.monisola@uniabuja.edu.ng Received: 08-11-2019 Revised: 17-12-2019 Published: 23-12-2019 8 International Archives of Medicine and Medical Sciences І November – December 2019 І Volume 1 І Issue 3