By Hassan Zaggi
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has shut down six local manufacturers of finished pharmaceutical products over their inability to meet the required basic standard of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP).
The Director General of NAFADC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja, on Monday.
She revealed that the pharmaceutical companies were shut down following a nationwide surveillance on their manufacturing activities.
Mrs Adeyeye, however, lamented 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.
The companies, according to her, will remain shut until the respective GMP compliances are met.
She stated 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 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 reiterated that her agency owes the nation the onerous responsibility of safeguarding public health and will not back track in ensuring that only medicines that are safe, efficacious and of good quality are accessible to the Nigerians.
