NAFDAC to clampdown on substandard, falsified drugs

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) NAFDAC shall continue to be proactive and vigilant in curbing substandard and falsified medicines in the country, to safeguard the health of the populace.
The Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said this at a news conference on Monday in Abuja.
She said that the agency would make it mandatory to identify and test the active pharmaceutical ingredient in all imported and locally manufactured drugs in the country from January 2020.

This, according to her, is to ensure compliance with international standards.
According to Adeyeye, the agency will reduce substandard and falsified medicines to five per cent prevalence by 2025 in the country.
she said that one of the strategic plans of NAFDAC was to reduce substandard and falsified medicines to “not more than five per cent prevalence” in Nigeria by the year 2025.

Adeyeye said, “the last data we have on the prevalence of substandard and falsified medicines in Nigeria is 16.7 per cent.”

She, however, added that the 16.7 per cent prevalence was 14 years ago, noting that it was time the agency did another survey to determine the present percentage of prevalence of substandard and falsified medicines in the country.
The director-general noted that besides safeguarding the health of the people, the regulatory control would also build confidence in Nigerians about the medicines available in the country.

Adeyeye, who said that substandard drugs could come through importation, explained that NAFDAC started enforcing regulations and control of active pharmaceutical ingredients of all drugs imported or manufactured locally in 2019.
According to her, in 2018, the agency started a country-wide inspection of 165 companies, using the international standard to ascertain Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) compliance.

She added that part of the GMP was the use of appropriate manufacturing equipment and facilities by manufacturers to ensure adequate control.
She said that measures were also put in place for the production of quality products.