Quamed

06/03/2026

Quamed’s Director had the pleasure of supporting the EAC Regional Centre of Excellence for Vaccines, Immunization and Health Supply Chain Management (RCE-VIHSCM) in the mid-term review of its Strategic Plan (2020–2029).

As part of the process, a three-day multi-stakeholder consultative meeting (2–4 March 2026) brought together experts from EAC Partner States.

The depth of expertise in the room made the discussions extremely valuable and will contribute to strengthening the revised strategic plan for the coming years.

Many thanks to the RCE-VIHSCM and the University of Rwanda teams for the excellent organization and the very welcoming working environment.

05/03/2026

The World Health Organization (WHO) is hiring a Technical Officer (International Pharmacopoeia & Quality Control) – P4, based in Geneva. If you have strong experience in pharmaceutical specifications, quality control labs, and regulatory standards, this is a unique opportunity to shape global norms through the International Pharmacopoeia and support access to safe, quality medicines worldwide. Apply by March 18, 2026.

Read more about it here:

Click the link provided to see the complete job description.

04/03/2026

In February, we advanced multiple GSDP and GMP audits, MQAS audits, remote GSDP technical visits, and CAPA plan assessments across Africa, Europe, and Asia. It has been a dynamic and productive month, reflecting our continued commitment to strengthening quality assurance systems across countries.

24/02/2026

Excited to share that the QUAMED Online Learning Platform has reached 3,500+ professionals across 138 countries in just 20 months, with over 95% reporting new knowledge and stronger competencies in pharmaceutical quality assurance. Completion rates of up to 47.7% show real engagement in self-paced learning.

Huge thanks to Jillian Kohler, University of Toronto – Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, and Nabila Chowdhury for analyzing 700+ learner evaluations and turning them into powerful insights for improvement and growth.

23/02/2026

With QUAMED Learning, you gain practical, self-paced access to courses, technical resources, and a network of experts dedicated to strengthening medical product quality systems. Whether you are part of a public institution, private supply chain, or an individual professional committed to excellence, this platform is designed to help you close gaps and apply WHO standards with confidence. Start learning. Strengthen quality. Make impact.

Join here: https://learning.quamed.org/

Bee Skilled

16/02/2026

We are excited to welcome Malteser International as a new Associative Member of QUAMED

With their strong presence in humanitarian response and health system strengthening, Malteser International brings valuable experience and shared commitment to quality. Partnerships like this help ensure that patients everywhere can access safe and reliable medical products.

The QUAMED network keeps growing, and with it, our collective impact.
Explore our community: https://quamed.org/members-partners/

14/02/2026

Big news for our network! We’re delighted to welcome GOAL USA as a new Associative Member of QUAMED

GOAL USA’s commitment to delivering quality health services in crisis-affected settings resonates strongly with our mission to promote safe, effective, and quality-assured medical products worldwide. Together, we strengthen responsible procurement and reinforce trust in humanitarian supply chains.

Join us in giving GOAL USA a warm welcome!

Discover our members & partners: https://quamed.org/members-partners/

11/02/2026

We’re excited to welcome GOAL USA as a new subscriber to the QUAMED Database. Their commitment to delivering quality health services in fragile and crisis-affected settings aligns strongly with our mission to promote safe, effective, and quality-assured medical products worldwide.

By joining the QUAMED Database community, GOAL USA strengthens informed, responsible procurement while increasing visibility for audited suppliers who invest in quality. Together, we continue building a trusted network that puts patients first.
Explore the QUAMED Database here:
https://database.quamed.org/

09/02/2026

More than a year and a half since AVENZA was awarded the QUAMED GMP QCP certificate on 10 July 2024, acknowledging a clear and ongoing dedication to quality and reliability. A reminder that quality is built through long-term commitment and daily practice. We encourage all of our members and partners to trust AVENZA’s manufacturing processes and to add them to their list of trusted suppliers.

06/02/2026

We’re delighted to welcome International Medical Corps to the QUAMED network as a Member Organisation. Their long-standing commitment to strengthening health systems and ensuring access to quality healthcare aligns closely with QUAMED’s mission to promote safe, effective, and quality medical products. We look forward to meaningful collaboration, shared learning, and the collective impact this partnership will bring.

05/02/2026

We’re proud to see the QUAMED Database continue to grow, now with International Medical Corps and Malteser International among our subscribers. The Database brings together all information collected during QUAMED audits, from medicine manufacturers and distributors, and quality assessments aligned with WHO standards. As more humanitarian actors join, audited suppliers gain greater visibility and recognition for their quality commitment. Access is granted through a simple application process, under strict non-profit conditions, to ensure this critical information serves its true purpose: protecting patients and strengthening humanitarian supply chains. Interested in accessing or being featured in the QUAMED Database? Join a trusted, global quality network: https://quamed.org/database/

Trusted by humanitarian and global health actors: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, International Rescue Committee, Médecins Sans Frontières / MSF (International Office), UNICEF Supply Division, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, World Health Organization (WHO), the Children, Medair, ALIMA, Concern Worldwide, Première Urgence Internationale, Terre des Hommes, and more.

The mutualisation of information being our creed, the Quamed Database works in a collaborative mode. Thus each member is asked to participate actively, so that this tool that we make available is the most profitable possible, and that it allows to ensure an optimization of access to quality medicine...

05/02/2026

The following message is courtesy of Dr Raffaella Ravinetto, Public Health Department, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, Belgium.

Dear Friends,

I am happy to forward this message from Elizabeth Pisani and the STARmeds research group! It will be of great interest for all those who work in pharmaceutical policies and systems, with particular focus on research related to quality and pricing of medicines. Have a nice reading!

Raffaella
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"The final planned paper from STARmeds group has just been published (attachedI, this one a (I think unusual) kiss-and-tell of the mistakes we made in amoxicillin quality testing, and what we learned from it.

I take the opportunity to post links to all the papers published from this collaboration, led by Univeritas Pancasila in Jakarta (and kindly funded by UK taxpayers, whom we thank). See all links with a short explanation here below.
I also draw attention to the full, sample level dataset, which is available for download and reuse, along with metadata in English and Indonesian, and very detailed methods. It includes all assay, dissolution and uniformity test results, as well as prices and other details (included meds are amoxicillin, cefixime, amlodipine, allopurinol and dexamethasone). We encourage you and your students to use the data for your own, to answer all the interesting questions that we either didn’t think of, or didn’t have time for. Please tell us what you find!
Our main findings, and associated papers (in embedded links in the headlines) include: 1. Are quality medicines affordable? Evidence from a large survey of medicine price and quality in Indonesia: The cheapest medicines are just as likely to pass assay, dissolution and uniformity of assay tests as the most expensive brands/versions of the same product 2. Are quality medicines affordable? Evidence from a large survey of medicine price and quality in Indonesia: For some medicines, the most expensive brand we found was priced at over 100 times the cheapest. Prices often varied three or four-fold for the very same brand, depending on the outlet. However, affordable options were always available, even in remote rural areas. 3. A randomised survey of the quality of antibiotics and other essential medicines in Indonesia, with volume-adjusted estimates of the prevalence of substandard medicines | PLOS Global Public Health: Because they deliberately seek out a variety of brands, samples taken for studies are rarely representative. Weighting results by market size of different brands or manufacturers affects results dramatically; in our survey it slashed prevalence estimates by 47%. In Indonesia, bad medicines don’t sell well. 4. chrome-extensio://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12709451/pdf/BLT.24.292994.pdf (copy-paste the link in your browser to open it): Because of a missing flask size, we made an error in early testing of amoxicillin; we suspect others have done the same, possibly affecting results of other published studies. 5. Full article: On paper; in practice: measuring compliance with official pricing policies in a large field study of essential medicines in Indonesia: Though Indonesia has elaborate rules to cap prices of unbranded generics and to introduce transparency for branded medicines, these are regularly ignored or flouted, especially by hospitals. 6. Value for money of medicine sampling and quality testing: evidence from Indonesia | BMJ Global Health: Surveillance based on random sampling from the market is expensive. Random sampling may be useful in markets with very high prevalence of poor quality medicines. However in Indonesia, where prevalence is low and most essential medicines are made domestically, the regulator may achieve the same goals more cost-effectively by investing more in oversight of production.
7. Making intersectoral stakeholder engagement in medicine quality research work: lessons from the STARmeds study in Indonesia: Researchers should engage with policy audiences from the planning stages of their work. It’s hard work, but ultimately worthwhile,
While I have your attention, data from a similar but smaller study of cardiovascular drug quality are also available.

Elizabeth & STARmeds