NAFDAC seeks multiple approach to tackling menace of substandard, falsified medicines
By Francis Ajuonuma
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Director General, Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, has called for a multifaceted approach to tackle the menace of substandard and falsified medicines in Nigeria and beyond.
Professor Adeyeye, gave the advice on Thursday while speaking at the 21st NECCI PR Roundtable in Lagos, on, Fighting the scourge of illicit trade in the pharma industry: “The role of communication”
She noted that Illicit sales, distribution of substandard and falsified medicines are global threats that present huge public health challenges to National Medicines Regulatory Authorities in both developed and developing countries, as well as catastrophic consequences on the local pharmaceutical industry.
According to the NAFDAC boss, the menace of substandard and falsified medicines portends grave financial losses, possible divestment, and close of shop for the pharmaceutical industry and threatens the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which strive for access to safe, effective, quality, and affordable essential medicines.
Professor Adeyeye believes that illicit trade in fake goods has continued to be a significant and growing threat to economies globally, adding that the socio-economic impact of this menace for any nation is enormous.
‘’In addition to harming the economy generally, it also has the potential to weaken the rule of law and erode public confidence in the government. The proliferation of Substandard and Falsified (SF) medicines has even greater and significant dangerous public health ramifications as well as detrimental effects on the pharma industry.
She noted that the enormous financial rewards from dealing in SF medicines have lured domestic and foreign criminal organisations into the illicit business, as she puts the value of global commerce in SF/counterfeit drugs in 2016 at $4.4 billion, accounting for 0.84 per cent of all pharmaceutical product imports globally but excludes a sizeable amount of locally produced and consumed SF medicines.
Prof. Adeyeye however, disclosed that effective communication has made NAFDAC more efficient in the way it carries out its operations, adding that NAFDAC has a communication strategy aimed at ‘’ensuring all our processes, procedures, laws, regulations, policies, etc are promptly and effectively communicated to our staff, our stakeholders, and the public’’.
‘’In the meta-analysis of 96 studies that examined 50 or more samples, totaling 67, 839 drug samples, it was estimated that the incidence of SF medicines in low- and middle-income countries stood at 13.6 per cent. The largest incidence was observed in Africa with 18.7 per cent and 13.7 per cent in Asia.
“According to the WHO Global Surveillance and Monitoring System, the continent of Africa accounted for 42 per cent of the 1,500 incidents of SF and counterfeit medical products recorded between 2013 and 2017. The most frequently reported products by member states were antibiotics and antimalarials, which accounted for about 36 per cent of all the products’’.
