NHIA Branded Drugs To Be Tested In WHO-Prequalified Laboratory — NAFDAC

National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has said that every drug to be manufactured under the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) branded medicines initiative will be certified and approved by the agency in terms of quality, safety and efficacy.

The director-general of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, disclosed this yesterday at a joint press briefing by NAFDAC and NHIA in Abuja.

She said, “The medicines will be tested in the WHO-Prequalified NAFDAC Laboratory. Also, as part of its Post Marketing Surveillance activities, NAFDAC will continue monitoring to ensure that these branded medicines are used exclusively in the nation’s health care facilities. They are not to be found on the shelves for sale.”

The NHIA recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with 12 pharmaceutical companies and Drugs Management Organisations (DMOs) for production of 33 different drugs to address the perennial problem of out-of-stock syndrome in the nation’s health facilities.

The NAFDAC boss said the initiative is also geared towards strengthening local pharmaceutical manufacturers, which will ultimately guarantee medicines security. 

She said, “This drive to guarantee medicines security has been a deliberate and intentional effort by NAFDAC in the past five years and continues to be on the front burner to ensure that pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities are fit for purpose. This will help to reduce the proliferation of substandard and falsified medical products.

“The categories of drugs involved will start from simple to complex, which will be used to address prevailing health conditions in Nigeria, such as malaria, upper respiratory tract infections, childhood illnesses and drugs being used by pregnant women.”

The director-general of NHIA, Prof. Mohammed Sambo, said the authority is using the strategy to see how it can support the local manufacturers in drug production and provide availability market for them.