CALL it CSI: Malaria. It has a plot to rival any TV crime drama – an elite medical team has hooked up with Interpol and the Chinese security services to crack down on the deadly trade in counterfeit drugs. Now two Chinese nationals face trial charged with distributing fake versions of the anti-malarial drug artesunate.
Artesunate is the only effective treatment for malaria across much of south-east Asia. It is made by companies including Guilin Pharma of the Guangxi autonomous region in southern China. But the Guilin product is widely counterfeited, with seriously ill patients receiving knock-off tablets containing little…
