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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
National Agency for Food And Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has confirmed that about 15 per cent of drugs in Nigeria are substandard, as against 70 per cent recently reported in some sections of the media.
It, however, confirmed that measures are being taken to mitigate the situation, and finally end the era of fake and substandard drug and products in Nigeria.
Precisely, NAFDAC said it’s deploying some digital tools and device, 40 in number worth $2,.280, 000, that would be used to easily detect fake and substandard products across the country.
Director General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who spoke to journalists at the sidelines of an event to present operational vehicles to the officials of the Agency in Abuja, on Thursday, said they are more prepared and equipped to fight fake and unwholesome products in Nigeria.
She said: “the way the new device which has improved technology works is that you place it on the tablet or capsule and it instantly shows the content and pharmaceutical ingredients, and other details of the drug.
“We are also using bar coding track and trace system to monitor supply chain of drugs and other products. We deployed that strategy on COVID-19 vaccines, and that made us to know the location of every COVID-19 vaccine across the country. These are some of the measures taken against substandard products.”
Meanwhile, the NAFDAC boss has encouraged pharmaceutical companies that have the requisite capacity and are interested in vaccine production to approach NAFDAC for guidelines and procedures as well as supervision.
She insisted that NAFDAC does not manufacture vaccines, but rather monitor and regulate pharmaceutical companies that does.
She said that with the recent global benchmarking certification, Maturity Level three regulatory agency status, NAFDAC has been certified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as being competent in supervision and guidance of companies in vaccine production.
She said: “Vaccine production takes a long and meticulous process which need to be observed and strictly supervised. Nigeria can now manufacture vaccines but NAFDAC does not manufacture vaccines. We set the guidelines.
“So, if a pharmaceutical company wants to manufacture vaccines, they come to us and we give them guidelines which they must carefully follow. It’s very costly to manufacture vaccines. Necessary trainings are required as it’s always the case in tablet production.
“Making vaccines require a lot of work. A lot of biotechnology, pharmacology, vaccinology, virology and several other terms they have to properly understand. Fortunately, we have the human capital and other experiences required.
“For instance, National Veterinary Institute, Vom, Plateau State, has been producing vaccines for animals in the last 75 years. They have the intellectual and human capacity, hence they would play significant role in that case.
“Also, there is National Institute of Medical Research, National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) that would also play key role in the manufacturing of the vaccines.”
She maintained that NAFDAC is more prepared and ready to carry out its responsibilities with the recent procurement of 74 vehicles needed for operations and administration purposes.
She said: “We have had cases that companies we ought to supervise or regulate provide operational vehicles and other logistics for our staff coming for inspections. They would be forced to compromise which is dangerous to the health of the people.”
