Research Article
Contribution to the Detection of Poor Quality Sildenafil Drugs in
Burkina Faso Using High-Performance
Thin-Layer Chromatography
Abdoul Karim Sakira , Mit´eh´el´e Sandrine Marie Josiane Ouattara, Moussa Yabre ,
Moumouni Bande, and Touridomon Issa Some
Laboratoire de Toxicologie, Environnement et Sant´e (LATES), Ecole Doctorale des Sciences de La Sant´e (ED2S),
Universit´e Joseph KI-ZERBO, 03 BP 7021 03, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Correspondence should be addressed to Abdoul Karim Sakira; akarimsak82@gmail.com
Received 23 July 2021; Revised 18 September 2021; Accepted 25 September 2021; Published 13 October 2021
Academic Editor: Mar´ıa Jos´e Trujillo-Rodr´ıguez
Copyright © 2021 Abdoul Karim Sakira et al. .is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
In substandard drugs enforcement, there is a need to develop reliable, fast, and inexpensive analytical methods. Due to its very
characteristics, HPTLC offers opportunities for the development of methods that meet these requirements. .is technique was
used to develop and validate a method for the determination of sildenafil in pharmaceutical formulations from the licit and illicit
supply chain in Burkina Faso. Taking into account optimization parameters such as measurement wavelength and mobile phase
composition, the best elution quality is found at the maximum signals of spots on silica plates at 305 nm, using a mixture of
dichloromethane-methanol mixture 9 : 1 (v/v) proportions. .e method developed under these conditions was validated using the
accuracy profile as a decision tool. .e establishment of the response function curves allowed the choice of the polynomial
function applied to the peak areas. .is mathematical model provides a validity range between 0.4 and 0.6 mg/mL. .e application
of the developed and validated method to collected samples allowed the detection of two substandard drugs and confirmed the
poor quality of drugs in the illicit market. More data using this approach in a variety of drug molecules could lead to the
establishment of databases of counterfeit drugs in Burkina Faso.
1. Introduction
Data from the literature show that the market share of illicit
or falsified drugs is estimated at 10% with an increasing
trend in some countries. All therapeutic classes are con-
cerned. .ese falsified drugs cover a range from products
with unknown sources to those with or without active in-
gredient, under- or overdosed, or with falsified expiration
date [1–5].
Falsified or poor quality medicines are a serious concern
to public health worldwide, especially for developing
countries where surveillance systems are weak and quality
control of drugs is inefficient. .e quality control of med-
icines is generally based on the monographs of the different
pharmacopoeias and particularly from WHO. Counter-
feiting analysis can be done by simple visual inspection or
through the use of sophisticated techniques including im-
aging, spectrometric, and chromatographic techniques. .e
analytical methods to be used are classified into two main
groups: destructive methods and nondestructive methods;
the latter can be performed outside the laboratory. Among
the destructive methods are nuclear magnetic resonance
(NMR), atomic absorption spectrophotometry, gas chro-
matography, and liquid chromatography coupled with diode
array or mass spectrometer detector and thin-layer chro-
matography [2, 6]. Nondestructive methods include X-ray
diffraction, mid- and near-infrared spectrophotometry, and
Raman spectrophotometry.
In drug counterfeiting enforcement, it is necessary to
have simple, fast, and efficient methods for the analysis of
suspect products, and High-Performance .in-Layer
Chromatography (HPTLC), by its very characteristics, offers
Hindawi

Volume 2021, Article ID 4093859, 9 pages