Protecting chemotherapy drug quality in sub-Saharan Africa with a paper test card and phone app
Adapting a point of use test card, the chemoPAD, for protecting chemotherapy drug quality in sub-Saharan Africa
This project checks injectable chemotherapy medicines with a low-cost paper test card and a phone app to spot fake or weak drugs used by hospitals and pharmacies in parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
Quick facts
| Grant type | U01 cooperative agreement |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Notre Dame NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Notre Dame, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11146453 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If I were a cancer patient in one of the partner countries, researchers would adapt a simple paper test card called the chemoPAD to screen eight common injectable chemotherapy drugs and pair it with a phone app that reads the results. The app’s neural network will be trained to flag products that are falsified or contain less than about two-thirds of the expected active drug. Clinical, academic, and supply-chain partners in Ethiopia, Malawi, Cameroon, and Kenya will collect and test hundreds of chemotherapy samples each year. A US research team will use those results to model local drug markets and estimate whether the SpotCheck system is cost-effective and practical to use more broadly.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants are hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and patients receiving injectable chemotherapy in Ethiopia, Malawi, Cameroon, or Kenya who can allow drug samples to be tested at the point of use.
Not a fit: Patients who receive chemotherapy types not covered by the eight drugs in this project or who live outside the participating countries are unlikely to benefit directly from this work.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could help patients get authentic, effective chemotherapy and reduce harm from counterfeit or substandard medicines.
How similar studies have performed: Paper-based and phone-read rapid tests have worked for other medicines like antimalarials, but applying this approach specifically to injectable chemotherapy is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
Notre Dame, United States
- University of Notre Dame — Notre Dame, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Lieberman, Marya — University of Notre Dame
- Study coordinator: Lieberman, Marya
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.