A study published in The Lancet Global Health by researchers from the African Union Scientific (AUS) initiative and a Pan-African research group has revealed alarming quality issues in chemotherapy drugs distributed across parts of Africa.

The investigation found that nearly one in five cancer medicines sampled from hospitals and private pharmacies in four countries did not meet quality standards.

Between April 2023 and February 2024, researchers collected samples of seven commonly used chemotherapy drugs, including methotrexate, cisplatin, and doxorubicin, from Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, and Cameroon.

Laboratory analysis using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) showed that 48 out of 260 samples, about 19% had incorrect levels of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Some samples contained as little as 28% of the required dosage, while others exceeded 120%.

The substandard medicines were traced to 12 public hospitals and 25 private pharmacies, highlighting widespread regulatory lapses.

Notably, the study found that only 9% of the faulty drugs could be identified through visual inspection, the primary method used by current regulatory systems to assess medicine quality.

Even more concerning, nearly a quarter of the samples had already expired at the time of testing, some by close to a year, further exposing patients to potentially harmful or ineffective treatment.

The findings raise critical concerns about the safety and reliability of cancer treatment across Sub-Saharan Africa and point to urgent gaps in post-market surveillance and drug regulation.