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By Henry Uche
Experts in the pharmaceutical sub-sector of the healthcare industry are seeking the support of government across levels and other health practitioners to achieve medicine security in the most affordable, accessible and valuable form for Nigeria.
Making this call at the 24th annual national conference of the Association of Industrial Pharmacists of Nigeria (NAIP) in Lagos recently, they maintained that the pursuit for halting drugs importation into Nigeria remains paramount, in line with the mandate of universal health coverage and medicine security, hence the need for a concerted collaboration.
The chairman, board of fellows, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Femi Oyewo, said, “We must synergise to ensure medicine security and vigorously seek the production of indigenous drugs; Nigeria must extricate itself from the shackles of dependence on imported drugs. We have what it takes. We need deliberate brainstorming sessions and cross-fertilization of ideas.”
Examining the theme “Technological Revolution, Adaptation in Industrial Pharmacy Practice,” the keynote speaker and president, International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), Sola Solarin, stressed the conditions under which pharmaceutical experts could explore the opportunities brought about by technological revolution.
According to him, education and curricula upgrade of the profession, research and development, collaboration, continuous training, internet -enabled platforms among others are sine qua non for pharmacists to reach their destinations,
He noted that undergraduates’ curricula in different academic institutions should be richer in bio- information and information technology contents.
“We must identify, explore trends and broaden our market views by breaking the shackles of defining our market within Nigeria. There is the need to ensure leadership in industrial production and quality control of biologics which can be done through a conversation between industry and academia.
“Pharmacists must start thinking about the stability of formulations in the weightless environment of space and exploit drones in drug deliveries to difficult areas at critical times. It is obvious that biotechnology and information technology will still shape developments in industrial pharmacy practice for the foreseeable future, and combination products will become more important.”
He urged pharmaceutical practitioners to take advantage of opportunities offered by FIP saying, “Our practice requires that we remain humble and exploit the knowledge of other professionals to remain relevant. FIP offers many opportunities- contacts, training, and connections, where you can learn and grow as well develop in this noble profession.
“We commended PCN for developing a sophisticated and IT-enabled platform for continuing professional education. However, the undergraduate curriculum should be richer in biotechnology and information technology, difficult as our finances are, let must devote money to research that will promote the relevance of the industrial pharmacist in the scheme of things.
“The most important revolution we need to take us there is the revolution of the mind and until we increase the size of the pharmaceutical sector in Nigeria, politicians and the investment community will not take us seriously,” he said.
Meanwhile, the national chairman, NAIP, Ignatius Anukwu, noted that Nigeria’s pharmaceutical industry should be given due attention like proper funding in order to make it relevant in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) regime.
Anukwu affirmed that NAIP’s efforts to set up the first pharmaceutical manufacturing park in West Africa will receive new impetus and other support to boost indigenous research and development.
“We have mobilized membership from across the country. We have raised the brand equity of NAIP and entered into strategic partnerships. We have perfected our plans on our major initiative. Now, we need to take the next critical bold steps.
“We shall explore the science and technology behind the two products of indigenous research by our colleagues at Nigeria Association of Pharmacists in Academia (NAPA): NANIP-a herbal cough tincture and PINAN, a topical dual-action preparation. These are products of the Nigeria Medicines Development Project (NMDP), an initiative of NAIP and NAPA, aimed at commercialising products of indigenous research,” he added.
President of the PSN, Sam Ohuabunwa, assured every technical group in the pharmaceutical industry of continued pursuit of the single goal of protecting the health sector in collaboration with other health stakeholders, noting that more work lies ahead of them.
Ohuabunwa affirmed that the future of the pharmaceutical industry was bright, saying that, “There is no rift among PSN and other technical groups.Our future is bright, we are no longer eclipsed, we don’t need any permission to do exploits; it’s in our hands, but greater works lie ahead of us.”
The chairman, BoD, Access Bank Plc, Dere Awosika, tasked NAIP not only to speak about technological revolution but take actions to bring the needed positive change in the industry.
“Technology and innovation is a must do for everyone. Therefore, the industry must evolve itself in new technologies at the same pace as in artificial intelligence and machine learning, the big data and analytics, the block chain, the Internet of Things and digitization of drugs and healthcare through mobile applications among others,” she stressed.
