EVALUATING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DETECTION TECHNOLOGIES IN COMBATING SUBSTANDARD, SPURIOUS, FALSELY LABELLED, FALSIFIED, AND COUNTERFEIT (SSFFC) DRUGS. A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
Globally, counterfeit medications present a significant threat to every individual’s health and well-being because they may include hazardous materials, the wrong dosage, or no active ingredients. To address the problems caused by substandard, spurious, falsely labelled, falsified, and counterfeit (SSFFC) medications, this study set out to assess the evidence on the efficacy of strategies comprehensively. Several information sources, including PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, and grey literature, were thoroughly reviewed from January 2004 to July 2024. The accepted PICO (problem, intervention, comparator, and outcomes) tool served as the foundation for the inclusion criteria. SSFFC medications were among the issues considered during the review. Analytical methods, quality control, the pharmaceutical supply chain, and technical tools were among the initiatives. Only 25 of 10,489 studies met our eligibility criteria. Analytical approaches accounted for most of the investigations (84%), followed by drug surveillance (8%) and new development products (8%). Efficiency, dependability, cost-effectiveness, and the ability to identify lower-quality medicines have all been studied analytically; most of this research has reported several findings. Tracking counterfeit medications outside legitimate channels is difficult for drug surveillance. However, with numerous regulatory clearances still pending, product development faces problems such as tablet coating, complicated sample preparation, and limitations of 3D QR codes. There is little data regarding the efficacy, reliability, and ability of an intervention to recognize these variables. To improve post-market surveillance, policymakers and stakeholders must implement supply chain technologies and enhance quality checks through a regulatory framework.