Investigation on Counterfeit Glucosamine and Chondroitin Products in Iranian Pharmaceutical Markets

The purpose of this report is to present the results of analysis of actual glucosamine and/or chondroitin contents of several such products in the market place and to determine if they significantly deviate from their label claim. A total of fourteen products containing glucosamine sulfate and nine products containing chondroitin sulfate were evaluated. The amounts of glucosamine and chondroitin were found to be significantly different from the label claim in one product, ranging from as low as 59.00% to over 112.14% of the lable claim for glucosamine and 77.69% to over 94.86 % for chondroitin. Retail price of the product did not appear to be related to the quantity of active ingredients. The overall results of this study show that famous brands are better candidates for counterfeiting than expensive ones.