NAFDAC DG links Nigeria’s counterfeit medicine crisis to regulatory gaps

Nigeria’s counterfeit medicine crisis is rooted in longstanding weaknesses in the country’s pharmaceutical regulatory system, the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, has said.

Adeyeye made the remarks during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, as NAFDAC faces increased scrutiny over the continued circulation of counterfeit and unapproved products in the country.

According to her, the removal and eventual return of responsibility for controlling patent medicine dealers contributed to the emergence of open drug markets, which she said became populated by people without adequate knowledge of medicines.

What Adeyeye is saying

Adeyeye traced part of the problem to the way Nigeria regulated patent medicine dealers and the distribution of medicines over the years.

She said the responsibility for regulating patent medicine dealers was removed from the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) for a period and later returned, but by then, many people without adequate knowledge of medicines had entered the trade.

• “Decades ago, we had controlled patent medicine dealers and the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria was in charge, mandated to be the agency in control of that,” she said.
• “That responsibility was taken from the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria for many years, and it was returned, but by the time it was returned, the country is flooded with people that don’t understand anything about medicine,” she added.

The DG linked the situation to the country’s longstanding problem with substandard and falsified medicines.

• “So, in terms of substandard, falsified medicines, we created it in this country,” she said.

Adeyeye said the situation contributed to the growth of open drug markets, where medicines…