The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Monday disclosed that it has destroyed substandard and falsified drugs worth over N3.2 billion in the last two years.
The Director-General of the Agency, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who told newsmen during a news conference in Abuja to mark her two years in office, further explained that it also intercepted and destroyed falsified and substandard medicines worth N6 million, adding that 24 containers of falsified medical products, mainly Tramadol, had also been destroyed.
According to her, โNAFDAC intercepted a truck, with Reg No. Delta AXB715ZH, conveying substandard and falsified medical products enroute Kano. The products, worth about six million Naira, included Rebok Paracetamol inj., Aldox (Doxycycline 100mg), Buscomac 10mg and sterile water for injection.
โThe agency has destroyed substandard and falsified medical products worth more than three billion Naira (N3, 226,681,737.00).
โA study of counterfeit and substandard medicines in Nigeria conducted by NAFDAC in collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO) and Department for International Development (DFID) in 2005 revealed that counterfeit medicines stood at 16.7 per cent in 2005 as against 40 per cent in 2001. Thus, it is high time we did the survey on the prevalence.
โOne of our strategic plans is to reduce Substandard and Falsified medicines (SFs) to not more than 5 per cent prevalence in Nigeria by year 2025. Globally, the prevalence is about 10 per centโ.
She explained that NAFDAC has gained international recognition in the use of cutting-edge technologies to fight substandard and falsified medicines and other unwholesome regulated products. These technologies include: Truscan (Raman Spectroscopy), GPHF Minilab, and Mobile Authentication Service (MAS).
Adeyeye however stressed that the agency is in dire need of improved funding for staff welfare and equipment, noting that there is the urgent need for the procurement of 100 Truscan equipment, a modern hand held device used to detect counterfeited drugs, which is relatively expensive at $50,000 per piece.
According to her, โNAFDAC funds itself from the money that companies pay to get registered or reviewed. Very little come from the government. However, in the last two years we have become fiscally responsible owing to our judicious use of our limited resources.
โOur staff gets death threats in the course of doing our job asides physical attacks. One of our staffโs houses in the North East was broke into and they almost killed her. Another staffโs daughter was kidnapped in the North because of his work in NAFDAC; thank God his daughter was released.
โWe face very dangerous situations every time, and that is one of the reasons why I continually emphasis the fact that our staff should be regarded as agents saving the country.
โAlso, our salary structure needs to be looked into because some of our staff cannot afford to rent a good place in Lagos or Abuja. The danger with a low salary is that there is temptation that comes with it. A lot of our staff are offered millions of Naira, but I have told them not to accept money from anybody.
โIf any staff wants to collected money, just ask for the staffโs bank account and he or she will be traced and dismissed from the organization. We want a disciplined work force and one that is duly compensatedโ.
She further added: โHaving known that significant amounts of SFs are imported as unregistered, or registered but with compromise on the content after approval to become substandard, one of the drives of my administration is to encourage local manufacturing for products that can be manufactured in Nigeria.
โWe have a new policy to achieve this is through the Five Plus Five Validity (5+5 Validity) will ensure that importers whose products have enjoyed 5-year registration and are due for another 5-year renewal to produce blue print of migration to local manufacturing or to partner with indigenous manufacturer for local production, if they so wish.
โThere must be evidence of migration by the 8th year with a full blue print. Submission of the full blue print would allow for the last and 3rd five-year renewal. For newly registered imported product, the validity procedures will be similar.
โWe are making it mandatory (from January 2020) to identify and test the active pharmaceutical ingredient for all imported and locally manufactured drug products to ensure compliance with international standards for starting materials and making sure they are actually used during production processesโ.
She explained that although poverty is a major factor that makes a lot of people fall victims of fake drugs because they are cheap, she however emphasised that because a drug is cheap does not mean it is good; it could be cheap and good sometimes, but first dialogue with the pharmacist and look at the packaging. If it is too cheap to be good, it is very likely too cheap and not good.
โIncreased local manufacturing is extremely important for the drug security of our country. For local manufacturers especially, the only thing they donโt import is water. The least the government can do is to reduce the taxes and increase the incentive on local goods. They also need to remove high customs duties.
โIt breaks my heart to know that illicit and substandard drug peddlers are given light sentences of only 5 years imprisonment or an option N250,000 for the trafficking and peddling of drugs like tramadol and other illicit medicines killing our youths, destroying homes and casting shadow in the future of Nigeriaโ.
She said the agency will plead with the judiciary to look at the consequences these bad medicines are having on our homes and people and review for a stiffer sentencing.
She explained that over two years ago about 80 per cent of the agencyโs equipment was not working properly.
However, on Monday they not only have them working properly, but also have a fully functional standard laboratory with the support of the government.
