A Poor-Quality Generic Drug for the Treatment of Visceral Leishmaniasis: A Case Report and Appeal.

The article informs that despite existing international regulations for quality assurance of medicines, poor-quality drugs for the management of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) or kala-azar are being distributed through a nationwide treatment programme in Bangladesh. It has been informed that Miltefosine, an alkylphosphocholine drug, is an essential drug in the management of VL, but it was absent in the crude "Miltefos" capsule being distributed in Bangladesh that could severely jeopardize the individual health of patients. It has been stated that use of substandard or counterfeit drugs containing no or a subtherapeutic amount of active pharmaceutical ingredient would cause hinderance in controlling efforts for VL.