- NAFDAC implements measures to stop influx of counterfeit pharmaceuticals, intercepts over 140 fake products, plans digital authentication
- Prof. Adeyeye underscores NAFDAC’s commitment to quality standards, highlights pre-testing system’s success in preventing entry of counterfeit products
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has implemented measures to curb the influx of imported pharmaceutical products with counterfeit certificates.
Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, the agency’s Director-General, announced this during a stakeholders’ engagement meeting held yesterday in Abuja.
Adeyeye highlighted that NAFDAC’s pre-testing system has successfully intercepted over 140 products bearing fake Certificates of Pharmaceutical Products (CPP) from entering the country.
She explained, “We have 55 countries in Africa and are part of the Member States globally. We have committed to ensuring that products entering the region meet quality standards. The World Health Organization (WHO) established a scheme called the Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product, which signifies our assurance to receiving countries regarding the quality of the products.”
“Most of our medicines originate from South East Asia, and we are also part of the member states in that region. To ensure quality assurance, we have implemented a pre-shipment testing scheme accompanied by CPP. However, this has not been consistently upheld, as our system has intercepted over 140 approved products from entering,” Adeyeye added.
Prof. Adeyeye further disclosed that NAFDAC plans to digitize the authentication process of these certificates to minimize the prevalence of counterfeit pharmaceutical products in the market.