A Simple Colorimetric Assay for Anti-malarial Drugs Quality Assurance and Rapid, On-site Counterfeit Detection

This CDC assay aims to lessen the anti-malarial drug counterfeiting epidemic by testing for the artemisinin-type drugs (the active compound), through the use of a simple, inexpensive colorimetric test. Poor quality and counterfeit drugs pose an immediate threat to public health and undermine malaria control efforts, resulting in resistant-parasites and invalidates effective compounds, i.e. the artemisinins.

In response to this threat, CDC researchers have developed a simple, inexpensive, field-adapted colorimetric test to determine artemesin-derivative authenticity in anti-malarial tablets. This assay exploits a chemical reaction in which the active element in question readily reacts under mild conditions with diazonium salts producing a visually distinct green-colored product. The resultant product delineates a positive correlation between color intensity and the drug's concentration of active-compound; counterfeit drugs will have no or little change in color.

Potential Commercial Applications:		Competitive Advantages:
Quality assurance, fraud prevention for anti-malarials Public health and humanitarian concerns Artesunate, artemisinin sales and distributions		Potentially life-saving technology in developing nations and malaria affected regions Simple assay with an unaided-eye readout Inexpensive and field-adapted for use in low-resource environments

Development Stage:

• In vitro data available
• In situ data available (on-site)

Inventors:

Michael Green (CDC)  ➽ more inventions...


Intellectual Property:
U.S. Pat: 8,435,794 issued 2013-05-07
PCT Application No. PCT/US2008/082466
US Application No. 12/741,434

Publications:
Green MD, et al. PMID 11108540
Green MD, et al. PMID 11737833

Licensing Contact:
Tara Kirby, Ph.D.
Email: tara.kirby@nih.gov
Phone: 240-669-5128

OTT Reference No: E-161-2013/0
Updated: Jan 20, 2014