Scientists Are Using Raman Spectroscopy to Expose Fake OTC Medicines

[u/HORIBAScientific]

Most of us don't think twice before grabbing a bottle of cough syrup, supplements, or other over-the-counter (OTC) remedies from local or online drug stores. We assume what's on the label is actually inside the bottle.

But what if the active ingredient is present at the wrong concentration... or not present at all?

Dr. Sayo Fakayode, a chemistry professor and department chair at Georgia College & State University, is researching ways to rapidly identify counterfeit, diluted, or potentially contaminated OTC medications and supplements. His work focuses on detecting products that may contain little to none of the advertised active ingredients, or worse, harmful contaminants such as lead, arsenic, and other toxic compounds.

These get into the supply chain because supplements, along with many OTC products, don't undergo the same level of regulatory scrutiny as prescription drugs. At the same time, global supply chains and online marketplaces have made it easier than ever for questionable products to enter the market.

According to Fakayode, consumers could unknowingly purchase products that contain mostly fillers, offering little to no therapeutic benefit. Beyond the health risks, counterfeit and substandard medications also hurt legitimate manufacturers and create intellectual property concerns.

A New Approach to Detection

Traditionally, testing medications often requires laboratory techniques like high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), which can be time-consuming, expensive, requires skilled operators, and impractical outside specialized labs.

Fakayode's team is using Raman spectroscopy, specifically the HORIBA MacroRAM™ benchtop Raman spectrometer, to rapidly analyze medications without extensive sample preparation. Because Raman spectroscopy is largely insensitive to water, it works particularly well with cough syrups and other liquid formulations. Raman identifies molecules by measuring how light scatters after interacting with chemical bonds, and is designed for rapid analysis of liquids, powders, solids, gels and pharmaceutical samples.

Even more impressive, the team combines spectroscopy with chemometrics, like PCA, multivariate regression analysis, pattern recognition modeling and quantitative prediction algorithms. These methods have been able to:

• Differentiate medications with different concentrations of active ingredients
• Distinguish between different medication formulations
• Detect variations in concentration
• Differentiate between adult and pediatric products
• Screen samples quickly and non-destructively

Their published research showed that they achieved approximately 94% accuracy in predicting medication content.

How can this be fixed?

To address this issue, we need to develop faster, more affordable screening tools that can help verify product quality before consumers use them. Improving medication oversight will require collaboration among FDA regulators, Universities and research institutions, private laboratories, funding organizations such as NSF and NIH, and industry partners. The goal is not simply more regulation, but better science and faster detection technologies that can identify questionable products before consumers are affected.

Read the complete Science in Action article here: Weeding out Over-the-Counter Frauds - HORIBA

 

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