The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has sounded the alarm, revealing that half of the pharmaceutical products imported into Nigeria are counterfeit.
NAFDAC Director General, Mojisola Adeyeye, made this revelation during a recent stakeholders' engagement in Abuja. She highlighted that the Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product (CPP), which should adhere to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, is meant to establish the quality status of the product and the applicant in the exporting country. However, despite efforts to ensure product quality, Adeyeye expressed concern that many CPPs arriving in Nigeria are counterfeit.
According to Adeyeye, substandard and falsified products pose a significant threat to access to safe, effective, and affordable medicines, undermining efforts towards achieving universal health coverage in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
She emphasized that WHO introduced the Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product (CPP) scheme to assure receiving countries of the quality of exported medicines. However, Adeyeye noted that a large portion of medicines imported into Nigeria originate from South East Asia, with more than 50% of CPPs being identified as fake.
Adeyeye pointed out that NAFDAC is implementing stringent measures to combat this issue, with no tolerance for shortcuts. She emphasized that any company suspected of compromising product quality will face immediate action, including closure within hours.
Expressing concern over the prevalence of substandard and falsified medicines in Africa, Adeyeye highlighted the limited regulation processes in the region, with only about 10% of national regulatory agencies achieving maturity level three. She underscored NAFDAC's mandate to reduce the prevalence of substandard and falsified medicines, both locally manufactured and imported, through prevention, detection, and response strategies.
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