Quality of oral and parenteral chloroquine in Kampala

Malaria remains an important public health problem in Uganda. The mainstay of treatment is still chloroquine. However, recently there have been several reports of poor response to chloroquine treatment. We do not know whether the reported poor response is due to true resistance or poor quality of the drug in the market. This study was done to assess the quality of chloroquine dosage forms in Kampala. The study was cross-sectional; end-point designed to assess the amount of the active ingredient in the tablet and injection dosage forms of the drug. The quality assay was based on the BP, 1988 standard, using both visual and potentiometric analysis technique. The study demonstrated that there is a problem with the quality of chloroquine in the market. Upto 30% of the tablet samples and 33% of injection samples contained less than the stated amount of the active ingredient. This may be one of the reasons for the reported poor response of malaria to chloroquine treatment in Uganda. Given that routine laboratory testing of active ingredients in pharmaceuticals is not practised in Uganda, this study has demonstrated the necessity for establishment of a drug quality control laboratory in the country.