Crime
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The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control reiterates its commitment to curbing counterfeiting of food and drugs
IN its bid to reduce drug and product counterfeiting in Nigeria, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has reiterated the agency’s commitment to continuously fight counterfeiting, until it was stamped out of the country. Paul Orhii, director general, NAFDAC, said the battle line had long been drawn between a competent and responsible agency and producers of fake drugs and unwholesome products, as well as the small but powerful minority bent on manufacturing and distributing adulterated and substandard regulated products to the public.
Orhii, who stated this during the first NAFDAC Summex Summit and Exhibition in Lagos, said the agency would never compromise on its decision to bring to justice any manufacturer involved in the production of fake and counterfeit drugs, at the detriment of the Nigerian people. “We have identified counterfeit drugs to be drugs with no active ingredients, drugs with insufficient active ingredients, drugs with active ingredients different from labelled claim, clones of fast moving drugs, herbal drugs mixed with orthodox medicines, expired drugs or drugs without expiry date, or re-labelled with the intention of extending shelf life, drugs without full names and location, as well as drugs not registered or authorised by NAFDAC,” he said.
The NAFDAC director general also called on manufacturers to implement quality oversight and controls over the manufacture of drugs, including the safety of raw materials used in manufacturing finished drug products, adding that when manufacturing is outsourced, brand owners must similarly implement quality oversight over their suppliers, since contract manufacturers were an extension of the manufacturer’s own facility.
He noted that as part of efforts to prevent entry of fake and counterfeit products into the country, the agency has deployed new technologies towards improving surveillance at the ports of entry, the use of e-clearance to access the Customs portal and strict enforcement of the Mobile Authentication Service in order to empower the patient at the point of purchase of anti-malarias’ and antibiotics.
Bade Ojo, who was the guest speaker at the summit and exhibition, also called for stringent punishment for drug counterfeiters, noting that the direct impact of fake drugs on health of people and the nation in general was devastating. He said: “Combating counterfeit medicines require the coordinated effort of all the different affected stakeholders that are competent for addressing the various aspects of the problem. Counterfeiting medicines is widespread and has escalated to such an extent that effective coordination and cooperation at the international level are necessary for regional and national strategies to be more effective.”
— Dec 21, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT
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