Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Development Of A Chromatographic Method To Authenticate Aspirin Brands, Megan Guetzloff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Counterfeit pharmaceuticals pose a threat to society that can include inaccurate amounts of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), no API, or containing off-target compounds. For example, there are many recent examples of counterfeit pharmaceuticals containing potentially lethal doses (> 2 mg) of fentanyl (i.e., a synthetic opioid). Current measures to combat illicit pharmaceuticals (e.g., unique packaging and product serialization) have merit, however with evolved technologies, counterfeiters can relatively easily simulate these measures and continue to distribute illicit pharmaceuticals. The only accurate way to definitively determine that a suspected counterfeit is, in fact, counterfeit is advanced chemical analysis. However, current methods …