ReviewBMJ open2022
Review of drug recalls and quality of pharmaceutical products in Nepal.
Review in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Substandard and falsified medicine recalls in the legitimate supply chain: a systematic review of evidence.BMJ open · 2025Pooled it
- Substandard medicines in Nepal: a crisis of access, equity, and a call for action.Frontiers in public health · 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
- A four-year assessment of the characteristics of Rwandan FDA drug recalls.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Substandard and falsified medical product recalls in Zambia from 2018 to 2021 and implications on the quality surveillance systems.The journal of medicine accessArticle
- Risk control drives risk assessment and risk review: A cause and effect model of pharmaceutical drug recall on patient safety.The journal of medicine accessArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo evaluate the pattern of substandard and falsified pharmaceutical products recall in Nepal.
settingWe analysed drug recall notices issued by the Department of Drug Administration (DDA), Nepal, and systematically reviewed peer-reviewed research articles during January 2010 to December 2020.
participantsThis study did not include human participants. However, data were collected from 72 drug recall notices issued by DDA and four research papers.
resultsA total of 346 pharmaceutical products were recalled during the reported period. The number of recalled pharmaceutical products has increased significantly over the past decade in Nepal. The most frequently recalled drugs were antimicrobials followed by gastrointestinal medicines, vitamins and supplements and pain and palliative medicines among others. Number of imported recalled drugs were slightly higher (42.2%) than domestic recalled drugs (40.7%). Sixty-two percentage of recalled drugs were substandard, 11% were falsified and remaining 27% were not registered at the DDA. Similarly, higher number of modern drugs (62%) were recalled than traditional ones (35%). Hand sanitisers used to minimise COVID-19 transmission contributed significantly to the list of recalled pharmaceutical products in 2020. Most of these sanitisers contained significant amounts of methanol (as high as 75% v/v) instead of appropriate amount of ethyl or isopropyl alcohol. The peer-reviewed research papers reported issues with labelling, unregistered drugs and drugs failed in several laboratory testing.
conclusionOur analysis showed that number of recalls of substandard and falsified drugs are increasing in Nepal. Since the recall data in this paper did not include number of samples tested and location of samples collected, more studies to understand the prevalence of substandard and falsified drugs in Nepal is recommended.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.