Local manufacturing of drugs’ll reduce cost of medicine —NAFDAC DG

The Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has stated the agency’s commitment to improving the local production of drugs in the country.

Adeyeye explicitly stated this at a webinar lecture, on Sunday, with the theme, “Addressing the Escalating Costs of Medicines” organised by The Cable Newspaper to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

There has been public outcry over the high cost of medicine lately, and Adeyeye’s opinion is that local production would help address the high cost of drugs nationwide.

She said that “locally manufactured medicinal products would be more accessible and affordable compared to the imported drugs.”

Additionally, The Director-General stated that the high purchase of raw materials and equipment is a major reason for the high cost of local production.

Adeyeye said, “Our manufacturers import everything except water.

“The raw materials – Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and the non-active called Excipients are all imported.

“I told the industry operators that we need to start making some APIs locally and that has resulted in EMZOR almost completing their facilities in Shagamu. They are going to be making four anti-malaria APIs – sulfadoxime, Pyrimethamine, Artemether and Lumefantrine. The Fidson consortium is also planning to manufacture some APIs.

“But we cannot start manufacturing locally without strengthening the regulations because we have never regulated local manufacturing of APIs”, she added.

Adeyeye explained that NAFDAC will use traceability technology to keep tabs on the distribution system and check for “substandard falsified medicines.”