TITLE:
The Quality of Medicines in Community Pharmacies in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: A Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS)-Based Survey
AUTHORS:
Hani M. J. Khojah, Henrik Pallos, Naoko Yoshida, Manabu Akazawa, Hirohito Tsuboi, Kazuko Kimura
KEYWORDS:
Amoxicillin; Antibiotic; Quality of Medicines; Lot Quality Assurance Sampling; Saudi Arabia; Community Pharmacy
JOURNAL NAME:
Pharmacology & Pharmacy,
Vol.4 No.7,
October
8,
2013
ABSTRACT: Objectives: To classify community pharmacies (CPs) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in terms of the quality of medicines sold by them, usingthe lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS) technique with a predefined threshold. Methods: Riyadh CPs were divided into 2 categories (“lots” for the purpose of LQAS), i.e., chain and independent CPs. Upper and lower rate thresholds for CPs that sell low-quality medicines were predefined as 20% and 5%, respectively. Consumer and provider risks were predefined as 0.05 and 0.10, respectively. The calculated number of randomly selected CPs required in each lot was 36; then, sale of low-quality medicines in >3 CPs implies a prevalence of >20% of such CPs according to LQAS. A randomly selected brand of amoxicillin (selected as a quality indicator of medicines because it is both widely counterfeited and heat-sensitive) was purchased from each pharmacy by a “mystery shopper”, checked for authenticity, and analyzed for drug content and content uniformity using a validated HPLC method. Results: Substandard amoxicillin was purchased in 9 pharmacies (4 chains and 5 independent). Both lots were thus rejected as unacceptable, which may indicate that consumers in Riyadh are at risk of purchasing substandard medicines at CPs. Conclusions: The quality of medicines sold in CPs in Riyadh did not meet our acceptability criterion, and appropriate intervention by decision makers is recommended. LQAS proved to be a practical, economical, and statistically valid sampling method for surveying the quality of medicines. It should enable decision makers to allocate resources for improvement more efficiently.