Poor quality medicines are a real and urgent threat that could undermine decades of successful efforts to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, according to the editors of a collection of journal articles published today. Scientists report up to 41 percent of specimens failed to meet quality standards in global studies of about 17,000 drug samples. Among the collection is an article describing the discovery of falsified and substandard malaria drugs that caused an estimated 122,350 deaths in African children in 2013. Other studies identified poor quality antibiotics, which may harm health and increase antimicrobial resistance. However, new methodologies are being developed to detect problem drugs at the point of purchase and show some promise, scientists say.

The National Institutes of Health and the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) are awarding 31 grants to U.S. and South African scientists to support research targeting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and HIV-related co-morbidities and cancers. The awards, which total $8 million in first-year funding, are the first to be issued through the South Africa–U.S. Program for Collaborative Biomedical Research. The program, which was established in 2013 with funding from NIH and SAMRC, is designed to foster and/or expand basic, translational, behavioral and applied research to advance scientific discovery among U.S. and South African researchers working collaboratively in the areas of HIV/AIDS and TB. The new awards will support research conducted at eight South African institutions and link scientists at these institutions with U.S. researchers at more than 20 U.S.-based research organizations, including the NIH.

NIH-funded study suggests test may increase treatment in primary care settings.

Duke University, Durham, N.C., has been awarded $2 million to initiate a new clinical research network focused on antibacterial resistance. Total funding for the leadership group cooperative agreement award could reach up to $62 million through 2019. Funding is provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.