Agencies unite to put Nigerian herbal medicine on global map

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has announced a partnership with the Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA) to strengthen the development of herbal medicines that meet global standards of safety, efficacy, and scientific validation.

In a statement by NAFDAC’s resident media consultant, Olusayo Akintola, the agency’s Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said Nigerian herbal medicine practitioners have the potential to formulate safe and effective natural remedies, but stressed the need for proper regulation and research to ensure their global acceptance.

Adeyeye explained that NAFDAC operates two types of approvals for herbal products.

The first is a listing approval, granted after laboratory evaluation for toxicology and safety. Products under this category are assigned NAFDAC numbers ending with the letter “L” and are valid for two years.

She said the second type of approval is full registration, which requires clinical trials to prove efficacy. Products that successfully pass clinical evaluation receive a five-year approval.

She identified the high cost of clinical trials as a major obstacle preventing many herbal medicine producers from obtaining full registration.

“We know that herbal medicine works. It is how to ascertain through clinical trials the level it can be used to ensure that patients will be safe, and above which there could be no damage to the liver, kidney, and other internal organs,” Adeyeye said.

“The fact that it is natural doesn’t mean it is all safe. That is where NAFDAC regulation and control come in.”

Adeyeye noted that while thousands of herbal products have been listed by NAFDAC, only a few have undergone clinical trials due to financial constraints.

She said the agency is seeking funding support to help practitioners conduct these trials, describing the process as “highly capital-intensive”.

According to her, the collaboration with NNMDA will focus on supporting herbal medicines that have met listing requirements to progress into clinical trials.

She said the agency has also continued to educate practitioners through stakeholder meetings and published simplified factory layout guidelines on its website to help small-scale producers comply with regulatory standards.

“We are approving herbal medicines daily in NAFDAC, but we are working towards a phase where we will have a national formulary for those that have had clinical trials and have been proven to be very effective,” she said.

Adeyeye recalled that NAFDAC had launched a herbal products committee before the COVID-19 pandemic to bring together practitioners, researchers, and government institutions to harmonise traditional knowledge with scientific validation.