Combating counterfeit medications with the foldscope?

Jan 12, 2015 • 8:54 PM UTC

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Gus Rosania

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Microscopes are not normally used by pharmacists, but could inexpensive, readily available microscopes be useful to pharmacists? Perhaps inexpensive microscopes could help pharmacists identify counterfeit medications, especially in developing countries where drug products are not well regulated. To begin addressing these questions, one can ask whether the foldscope may be useful to obtain information about the composition of OTC medications, such as Motrin IB tablets (A). Such tablets are made from a compacted (white) drug powder formulation, coated with a polymer (orange). The Motrin IB label has detailed info about the origin of the bottle, which could be useful for QC purposes (B). After breaking a Motrin tablet in half with a knife (A), the powder can be dispersed in a small drop of water, then mounted using a wet, tape coverslip prep, and examined using the low mag lens of the foldscope. After taking a picture of the powder with the iphone camera (C), Photoshop can be used to digitally zoom into the cluster of particles in the middle of the picture (D). In this digital zoom, the size and morphology of the particles that make up the drug powder (10-20 microns in diameter) can be clearly resolved (D). Such fine particulate powders are fairly standard in high quality pharmaceutical formulations, but may not be typically found in counterfeit medications.

Combating counterfeit medications with the foldscope?

Gus Rosania

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