Invention could scope out counterfeit drugs

November 12, 2013

Malaria kills hundreds of thousands of people in Africa annually, and it sickens millions more. Medicine can keep the disease in check and save lives. But up to half the drugs in Africa may be substandard—and up to a third may be counterfeit. At the moment, there’s no easy way to reliably test a drug in the field. That could change if a new technology called PharmaCheck, developed by researchers at Boston University, moves from prototype to reality. (Scientific American)