Facundo M. Fernández, examines an emergency contraceptive pill with ambient mass spectrometry.



A survey of emergency contraceptive pills in Perú found that 28 percent of the batches studied were either of substandard quality or falsified. Many pills released the active ingredient too slowly. Others had the wrong active ingredient. One batch had no active ingredient at all.

To detect the fake drugs, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology developed a sophisticated approach using mass spectrometry to quickly assess suspected counterfeit drugs and then characterize their chemical composition. The study’s results highlight a growing concern for women’s health in developing nations.

“A woman who does not want to get pregnant and takes these emergency contraceptives will get pregnant,” said Facundo M. Fernández, a professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, whose lab investigated the contraceptives.

The study was sponsored by the ACT Consortium through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Drugs are considered fake or falsified when someone makes a pirate copy of a patented drug, with criminal intent. Recent research has found that falsified drugs are a major problem in developing countries. Falsified emergency contraceptives have been reported in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Angola, South America and even the United States. Fake drug manufacturers will copy everything from the pill to the package.

Just as concerning as counterfeit medications are other poor quality medications, such as degraded or substandard drugs. Degraded drugs were once good quality, but lost their efficacy over time, for example after prolonged exposure to the sun in an open air market.

Substandard drugs are made by an approved factory, but they don’t contain the right active ingredient, contain less active ingredient than they should, or might not dissolve properly. These pills either result from factory error or negligence.

Falsified drugs are the most worrisome, because they may not contain the expected active ingredient, or they may contain the wrong ingredients, including toxic compounds.

In the survey of emergency contraceptives from Perú, the researchers found that seven of the 25 batches analyzed had inadequate release of the active ingredient (levonorgestrel). One batch had no detectable level of the active ingredient.

“We detected that the active ingredient was not there in one batch, instead those samples had a drug called sulfamethoxazole,” Fernandez said. “It’s a very common antibiotic. It can cause serious adverse reactions in some patients.”

For the study, samples of emergency contraceptives were purchased at 15 pharmacies and distributors in Lima, Peru, with 60 tables purchased per sample. Tablets were collected from 25 different product batches encompassing 20 brands labeled as manufactured in nine countries, Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, Hungary, India, Pakistan, Perú and Uruguay.

Fernandez’s lab used a tool called ambient mass spectrometry. Scientists in the lab grasp a tablet with a pair of tweezers and swing it in front of the instrument to get a real-time signature of the tablet’s chemical composition.

“Very quickly we pick out which ones are the problems,” Fernandez said.

Electrical distributors have
six months to start net metering

Dear A.M. Costa Rica:

This is an update to an April 2 article entitled: “Residents to get OK to produce and bank electricity”

The landmark Autoridad Reguladora regulation referred to in this article, which requires all electricity distribution companies to offer their residential and commercial customers grid-interconnection and net-metering privileges, was published in the government’s La Gaceta April 8. This means that the clock is now ticking’ on the 6-month period that the distribution companies were granted by the Autoridad in order to prepare, submit and get approval on the technical requirements, application form, interconnection contract and commercial terms, all of which are required for consumers to apply for and receive net-metering services.

This six-month  period for the electricity distributors to prepare their agreements is very, very generous, especially considering that all the distributors actually need to do is to adopt the exact same application, agreements and technical standards that the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad has used very successfully for four years in their pioneering pilot program for net-metering which began in 2010. This is essentially what the Empresa de Servicios Públicos de Heredia wisely did when it recently introduced its own net-metering program. (ICE and ESPH are the only two electricity distributors in the country with enlightened policies regarding small-scale, private power generation by their customers, i.e. the only two currently offering a net-metering service).

However, given that the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz and some other distributors have consistently opposed the government’s policies promoting Costa Rican home and business owners being able to generate part or all of their own power, it will be a pleasant and welcome surprise if they don’t use every bit of this liberal time period, and especially welcome if they don’t use this process as an opportunity to introduce complexities that serve as barriers to customers taking advantage of their new right to access and use the national grid. In this respect the Autoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos was wise to require the distributors to submit their documents and get approval.

The silver lining here is that home and business owners who are interested in investing in their own renewable generation, likely solar generation, can use this time period to prepare themselves. For instance, they can gather their historical monthly consumption history and identify qualified service providers who can design, install and warranty a private generation connected to the grid.

There are many new companies advertising themselves as renewable energy service providers, some very good, and some with questionable levels of experience and equipment knowledge, and some with downright poor quality equipment and poor business practices. Maybe the worst example of these shoddy practices are companies selling obsolete equipment that has no manufacturer’s warranty protection, but concealing this fact from an unsuspecting client. So like any significant purchase or investment, consumers should do their homework, check references, read the small print, and maybe most importantly, visit completed projects by potential vendors  to see the quality of their work.

Also expats should be aware that once a distributor has Authoridad approval to actually launch the net-metering services, they will have to make an application with sufficient technical documentation to get the distributor’s approval.  Due to its complexity and technical requirements, this application process will almost certainly require the professional help of the selected service provider. But once submitted, the distribution company will have a generous 120 days to process the application! And if the application is flawed, it may be that the process is even longer.

So, for someone considering an investment in private, renewable generation at a home or business, I suggest that he or she start now to investigate options for service providers and project financing, assuming the expat wants to have solar panels generating power and reducing your electricity bill in the coming summer. If they use this time wisely, they can be generating clean, economical solar power later this year. Or, if they are located on the ICE or ESPH distribution networks, they are able to begin this process anytime, as both companies offer an excellent service to their customers wishing to generate their own electricity.