PharmaChk

Boston University

PharmaChk

PharmaChk: Field-Based Detection of Substandard Antibiotics to Combat AMR in Poultry Systems

Boston, MA, USA

USA

Nonprofit

While human medicine has been a primary focus of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) studies, agricultural and environmental reservoirs play an essential role in the emergence and spread of AMR, leading to economic losses and threatening the livelihood of farmers. Poultry farming, accounting for the largest share of global meat production, makes extensive use of antibiotics—often administered prophylactically and without adequate oversight. In Pakistan, the world’s second-largest consumer of poultry antimicrobials, one study found that 89% of E. coli isolates from broilers were multidrug-resistant (MDR). Similar MDR prevalence has been reported in China (97.1%) and Brazil (43.2–81%). The problem is further compounded by the circulation of substandard and falsified (SF) medicines¹, which provide additional selective pressure for resistance development. Due to limited regulatory enforcement, antibiotic use in poultry remains widespread and largely unmonitored² in Pakistan and globally, and the lack of antibiotic quality data impedes the ability to effectively measure and manage the scope of the issue. There is a critical need for a portable, accessible, and quantitative platform for antibiotic quality testing that can enable systematic data collection within poultry farming systems to uncover the extent of SFs and their contribution to AMR. 1. https://shorturl.at/1WVhf 2. https://shorturl.at/ODH3c

To address the urgent need for reliable, accessible antibiotic quality testing in agricultural settings, we propose the deployment of PharmaChk, a portable, point-of-care system designed to quantitatively assess active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) content in pharmaceutical products. Rooted in aptamer chemistry and integrated optical detection, PharmaChk delivers precise measurements of API concentration within minutes, requiring minimal user training. The fully automated system integrates sample preparation, fluid handling, and signal detection, providing quantitative results with high accuracy—within 3% of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)—as demonstrated in field trials conducted with the United States Pharmacopeia and the Ghanaian Food and Drug Authority. We propose deploying PharmaChk to assess substandard and falsified medicines (SFs) used in poultry farming in Pakistan, specifically testing tetracycline and amoxicillin. Test results will be automatically uploaded to a centralized, cloud platform that will aggregate results and provide a dashboard for key stakeholders to access community-level data. Through this combination of portable testing and automated data aggregation, PharmaChk is uniquely positioned as a transformative tool for medicine quality surveillance in the poultry sector. Its adoption could generate urgently needed data on the prevalence of substandard antibiotics and support targeted interventions to mitigate their contribution to AMR. https://shorturl.at/EEWqI

This solution serves a wide array of beneficiaries, beginning with local farmers. The use of SFs in farming practices has a tangible impact on production outcomes including mortality rate, feed conversion rate, and average daily growth, reducing economic returns for local farmers. Furthermore, it increases human health risk by promoting AMR. Resistant bacteria can spread through food consumption and environmental run-off, impacting surrounding communities and contributing to global AMR transmission. Ensuring the quality of antibiotics used in food production is critical to safeguarding both global food safety and public health. By enabling rapid, on-site antibiotic testing, PharmaChk provides a powerful tool for identifying SFs. Local health officials, regulators, and key opinion leaders also gain access to actionable, quantitative data via direct testing that can inform evidence-based policy, improve regulatory frameworks, and support oversight for antibiotic procurement and use in poultry production. Additionally, veterinary supply chain actors—including manufacturers, distributors, and farm operators—stand to benefit from increased transparency and quality assurance. By bridging the current data gap via an online dashboard and enabling localized surveillance of antibiotic quality, PharmaChk empowers decision-makers with the necessary information to implement targeted interventions and protect communities from the escalating threat of AMR.