SynthesisBMJ global health2020
A systematic review of substandard, falsified, unlicensed and unregistered medicine sampling studies: a focus on context, prevalence, and quality.
Synthesis in BMJ global health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Substandard and falsified medicine recalls in the legitimate supply chain: a systematic review of evidence.BMJ open · 2025Pooled it
- The Impact of Climate Change on Health Services in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematised Review and Thematic Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Pooled it
- The impact of global falsified medicines regulation on healthcare stakeholders in the legitimate pharmaceutical supply chain: a systematic review.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Substandard and falsified antimicrobials in selected east African countries: A systematic review.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Characterizing Medicine Quality by Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Levels: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis across Low- and Middle-Income Countries.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2022Pooled it
- Comparative Assessment of the Pharmaceutical Quality of Amoxicillin Capsules Marketed in Authorized and an Unregulated Point of Sale in Mexican Market.Therapeutic innovation & regulatory science · 2026Article
- Pharmaceutical quality and cost-effectiveness of branded versus generic medicines across 22 drug types and 8 therapeutic categories: a citizen-funded comparative study from regulated retail outlets in Kerala, India.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Visual assessment of antimicrobial medicine packaging and labeling quality in pharmacies of Ho Municipality, Ghana.PloS one · 2026Article
- Protocol deviations in medicine quality tests.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2026Article
- Transnational Criminal Enterprise: a Qualitative Social Network Analysis of the Production and Trade in Falsified Medicines.Archives europeennes de sociologie. European journal of sociology. Europaisches Archiv fur Soziologie · 2025Article
- Article
- Perception of falsified and counterfeit medicines among adults living in Mexico City and the metropolitan area: an underappreciated health risk.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Substandard antibiotics and their clinical outcomes among hospitalized patients in southern Malawi: a pilot study.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Drug recall, its frequencies and conclusion: a retrospective secondary analysis involving 2-year publicly available data from Nepal.Therapeutic advances in drug safety · 2025Article
- Assessing knowledge, attitudes, and practices and demand-side interventions for combating substandard and falsified medicines: a scoping review.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2025Review
- Understanding the regulatory-procurement interface for medicines in Africa via publicly available information on standards, implementation, and enforcement in five countries.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2025Article
- Relationship between Prices and Quality of Essential Medicines from Different Manufacturers Collected in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Nigeria.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2024Article
- Quality of Essential Medicines from Different Sources in Enugu and Anambra, Nigeria.The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene · 2024Article
- Excessive active pharmaceutical ingredients in substandard and falsified drugs should also raise concerns in low-income countries.Journal of global health · 2024Review
- Prevalence of substandard, falsified, unlicensed and unregistered medicine and its associated factors in Africa: a systematic review.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Substandard and falsified (SF) medicines are a global issue contributing to antimicrobial resistance and causing economic and humanitarian harm. To direct law enforcement efficiently, halt the spread of SF medicines and antimicrobial resistance, academics, NGOs and government organisations use medicine quality sampling studies to estimate the prevalence of the problem. A systematic review of medicine quality studies was conducted to estimate how the methodological quality of these studies and SF prevalence has changed between 2013 and 2018. We also aimed to critique medicine sampling study methodologies, and the systematic review process which generates prevalence estimates. Based on 33 studies, the overall estimated median (Q1-Q3) prevalence of SF medicines appears to have remained high at 25% (7.7%-34%) compared with 28.5% in 2013. Furthermore, the methodological quality of prevalence studies has improved over the last 25 years. Definitive conclusions regarding the prevalence of SF medicines cannot be drawn due to the variability in sample sizes, consistency of design methods, and a lack of information concerning contextual factors affecting medicine quality studies. We contend that studies which present cumulative average prevalence figures are useful in a broad sense but could be improved to create more reliable estimates. We propose that medicine quality studies record the context of the study environment to allow systematic reviewers to compare like with like. Although, the academic rigour of medicine quality studies is improving, medicine sampling study limitations still exist. These limitations inhibit the accurate estimation of SF medicine prevalence which is needed to support detailed policy changes.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.