Counterfeit drugs account for roughly $75 billion of the $900 billion global pharmaceutical market — and about 100,000 deaths a year in Africa alone. In Kenya, up to 30 percent of drugs on the market are counterfeit, according to the World Health Organization.  Many “drugs” are no more than just chalk or water.

Muhammad Zaman, a biomedical engineer at Boston University, has designed a suitcase that detects fake drugs. Called PharmaChk the device is about the size of a carry-on bag. When you open it up and pop a pill into the designated spot, it measures the potency of the drug.

If you want to test a malaria drug (a pill, powder or a solution) you  mix the drug with plain water and combine it with a second solution using a fluorescent probe that comes with the kit. The  probe is designed to bind active ingredients in malaria drugs. When there’s a reaction between the probe and the drug, there is light. The light that comes out is directly proportional to the amount of active ingredients in) the drug.  If you are dealing with a drug that is completely fake, there is no light and no active ingredient in the drug.  The process takes 15 minutes.

Amid some depressing news in the world, nuggets like this are cheering.