No fewer than six pharmaceutical companies have been shut by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
The six firms were alleged to have been involved in the manufacturers of finished pharmaceutical products, its Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said on Monday.
She said the action was in furtherance of its zero tolerance for the circulation of substandard and falsified medicines in Nigeria.
Adeyeye, in a statement on Monday in Abuja, said the pharmaceutical companies were shut down following a nationwide surveillance on their manufacturing activities.
She said that these local manufacturers, despite appropriate notification, failed to meet minimum Good Manufacturing Practice standards in line with extant requirements which are required to assure the quality, safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products.
The NAFDAC-DG, however, maintained that the companies will remain shut until the respective GMP compliances are met.
Adeyeye said, “The 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 medicines in Nigeria recently blacklisted a foreign manufacturer of finished pharmaceutical products and delisted its local representative for gross violation of NAFDAC extant laws and regulations.
“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 Nigerian.”
