The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has announced the withdrawal, suspension, and cancellation of 101 pharmaceutical products.
A statement on its official X handle on Tuesday, said the pharmaceutical products are no longer permitted for manufacture, importation, exportation, distribution, advertisement, sale and use within Nigeria.
Read the full list of the products
The full list of the products posted on its website, covers hundreds of items across medicines and health products from antimalarials (various artemether/lumefantrine formulations) and cardiovascular drugs (valsartan products) to insulin/growth-hormone injectables (Norditropin), diabetes medicines (Januvia/Janumet), inhalers and eye drops.
The list includes some widely used drugs like Abacavir tablets, Amaryl tablets, Aprovasc tablets, Artemether/Lumefantrine, ASAQ (Artesunate amodiaquine Winthrop) 100mg/270mg Tablets, ASAQ (Artesunate amodiaquine Winthrop) 25mg/67.5mg Tablets, Combination 3 Tablets, Amlodipine, among many others.
The products are from some well-known pharmaceutical companies like Sanofi Aventis Nigeria Ltd, Novartis Nigeria Limited, Bayer East Africa Limited, Healthline Limited, Fensyl MHP Consulting Ltd, and many others.
The complete list of the 101 products and the pharmaceutical companies can be seen here.
“This is to inform the General Public that the following products are approved for withdrawal, suspension and cancellation by NAFDAC. They are therefore no longer permitted for manufacture, importation, exportation, distribution, advertisement, sale and use within Nigeria,” the statement reads.
‘’Please note that: The Certificate of Registration of a product is said to be withdrawn when the use of the Certificate of Registration of that product is discontinued upon request of the Market Authorisation Holder.
The Certificate of Registration of a product may be suspended when the conditions upon which the NAFDAC Registration license was issued are no longer met, and the Agency is to make a determination.
The Certificate of Registration of a product is said to be cancelled when the NAFDAC Certificate of Registration license of that product is revoked by NAFDAC.’’
The action by NAFDAC amid growing global concerns over fake and substandard medicines which has become a menace.
Substandard and falsified medical products are a significant global health problem, impacting millions of people and compromising health systems worldwide. These products can be found in all countries, impacting all types of medical products, including life-saving treatments like vaccines, antibiotics and cancer therapies.
The World Health Organization (WHO) had, in a report several years ago, estimated that 1 in 10 medicines in low- and middle-income countries failed quality control tests, suggesting the product is substandard or falsified.
In a related development, NAFDAC had a few days ago sought the collaboration of pharmacists to tackle the issue of substandard and falsified medicines.
