By Ahmed Rahma
Due to their inability to meet the required basic standard of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has shut down six local manufacturers of finished pharmaceutical products.
This was disclosed by the Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, who noted that the affected firms were closed following nationwide surveillance on their manufacturing activities.
She said that despite appropriate notification, the local manufacturing companies failed to meet minimum GMP standards in line with extant requirements which are required to assure the quality, safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products.
According to DG, the companies will remain closed until respective GMP compliances are met.
She added that these current actions are to serve as deterrents to all local and foreign manufacturers who may not want to comply with basic GMP requirements and join the agency in its renewed campaign to rid the country of Substandard and Falsified (SF) medicines.
NAFDAC in its current effort and relentless drive to address the challenges of Substandard and Falsified (SF) medicines in Nigeria recently blacklisted a foreign manufacturer of finished pharmaceutical products (FPPs) and delisted its local representative for gross violation of NAFDAC extant laws and regulations
She said, “NAFDAC owes the nation the onerous responsibility of safeguarding public health and will not backtrack in ensuring that only medicines that are safe, efficacious and of good quality are accessible to the Nigerians.”
