Overview

• An investigation of 189 samples across four African countries found that 20 percent of essential chemotherapy batches failed to meet international potency standards
• Some batches contained as little as 26 percent of the declared active ingredient while others exceeded the safe concentration by up to 12 percent
• Venus Remedies saw its cyclophosphamide fail in all eight tested samples and Zee Laboratories has faced 46 substandard drug flags since 2018 yet continues exporting
• India’s drug regulator admits it lacks the laboratory capacity to test oncology drugs and has never exercised its legal authority to recall unsafe chemotherapy batches
• Experts warn that weak oversight in generic drug production puts critical cancer medications at risk for millions of patients in low- and middle-income countries