NAPPSA warns against misinformation, fake drugs

By Adekunle Yusuf

The Nigerian Association of Pharmacists and Pharmaceutical Scientists in the Americas (NAPPSA) Inc has expressed concerns over the amount of misinformation about the coronavirus disease, and the activities of some unscrupulous companies/people who are taking advantage of the pandemic to market and sell unproven and illegal coronavirus (COVID-19) prevention and treatment options.

NAPPSA, therefore, warned that the dire consequences of the pandemic in Nigeria may take a more frightening turn if the country does not join the global effort to curb the trend.

These fears were articulated in a recent statement by NAPPSA entitled: “Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Update,” signed by the association’s President, Dr Anthony Ikeme, and the Secretary, Dr Aloysius Ibe.

NAPPSA, which was founded about 14 years ago, represents over 7,000 pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists, pharmaceutical educators of Nigerian origin living in the United States and Canada.

“It is extremely important for everyone to know that some people and companies are trying to profit from this pandemic by selling unproven and illegally marketed products that make false claims, such as being effective against the coronavirus.

Fraudulent COVID-19 products can come in many varieties, including dietary supplements and other foods, as well as products claiming to be tests, drugs, medical devices, or vaccines,” NAPPSA stated.

The association said these are trying times when people and nations are searching for solutions against a strange disease, which makes it easy for unconscionable characters to take advantage of people’s fears.

NAPPSA thus urged the government and regulatory agencies, such as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), to monitor the market to ensure people’s miseries are not further compounded through exposure to dangerous substances marketed as palliatives.

They also urged them to ramp up public education campaigns to counter the misinformation about coronavirus that undermines the effort to contain the pandemic.

NAPPSA said this warning becomes necessary considering  that some of these fraudulent COVID-19 products and misinformation are promoted by healthcare professionals.

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The association explained that so far, there is no approved product to either prevent or treat COVID-19, but rather that there have been promising off-label uses of drugs, including chloroquine, and hydroxychloroquine  that still require further investigations and clinical trials to determine their efficacy.

“Clinical studies are underway all over the world to determine the efficacy in using hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat COVID-19.

The FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) is working closely with innovators to expedite these efforts, including leveraging scientific information about the virus and ongoing clinical trials in the US and other countries such as China, Japan, South Korea and Italy,” the association said. NAFDAC recently revealed that it would soon commence clinical trial of chloroquine.

The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, said in a report that the trial “will be soon but I don’t know how soon”.

According to NAPPSA, there is a need for “responsible dissemination of information” about the global collaborative effort to contain COVID-19.

As such, the association promised it would continue to give regular updates on these efforts as well as collaborate with healthcare professionals in Nigeria, and regulators, such as NAFDAC, to fight the scourge and ensure it does not overwhelm the healthcare services as witnessed in Italy, Spain, United States, and other countries.

Beyond the pandemic, NAPPSA is looking forward to work with the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and the National Association of Industrial Pharmacists (NAIP) to build indigenous capacity for pharmaceutical manufacturing to ensure that Nigeria is better prepared to produce her medicines rather than rely on China, India and other countries. So far, according to the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Nigeria has more than 238 cases of COVID-19.