Researchers are Taking Aim at the Counterfeit Drug and Medical Supplies Market
Kakadiaris Part of NSF-Funded Multi-University Collaborative Team
The skyrocketing demand for COVID-19 treatment has scientists working overtime to produce medicines and vaccines. But simply creating these therapies isn’t the only hurdle facing researchers and world leaders.
Once a vaccine is developed, for example, it will inevitably be in short supply. And if rich countries continue to monopolize doses, poorer countries will be left to fend for themselves.
Situations like this fuel the counterfeit drug market, says Nikos Passas, professor of criminology and criminal justice at Northeastern University. When people are desperate, they’ll take whatever treatments they can get. And that can be incredibly dangerous to people’s health.
Passas and two other Northeastern professors, Mansoor Amiji and Ravi Sundaram, are teaming up with researchers, Ioannis Kakadiaris from University of Houston and Muhammad Zaman from Boston University, to develop techniques to disrupt the global trade of counterfeit medicines and medical equipment.
