Despite the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) trade liberalisation policy and other conventions to ensure free trade in the sub-region, there is a need for Nigeria to protect products.
Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) President Dr. Frank Udemba Jacobs canvassed this position at the unveiling of Oxytocin injection manufactured by an indigenous pharmaceutical firm, Juhel Nigeria Limited, which he described as the first of its kind in Africa.
He said the country owed it to itself to protect exclusive industries producing products that have intrinsic quality, irrespective of ECOWAS conventions, such as the Common External Tariff (CET) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement. He said this was necessary to protect jobs and grow the economy.
Noting the high rate of maternal mortality in the country, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) said was the fourth-highest globally, Jacobs said the drug Oxytocin and magnesium sulphate were to deal with it. He called on policymakers, regulatory bodies and financial institutions to support the company to preserve lives.
Juhel Nigeria Limited Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Ifeanyi Okoye regretted that Nigeria has assumed the unenviable position of fourth highest maternal death rate in the world, accounting for 19 per cent of 830 global maternal deaths daily.
He said Oxytocin was a safe and potent drug to treat Post-Partum Hemorrhage (PPH). He regretted that despite the availability of imported varieties, the rate and frequency of PPH and, consequently, maternal deaths were still very high.
Okoye said a study by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United States Pharmacopeia (USP), and National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), carried out in 2016, indicated that 74.2 per cent of Oxytocin in circulation failed quality laboratory evaluation.
Of every four imported brands, Okoye said three were fake. He said the high rate of sub-standardisation was as a result of the imported brands not having the right or stated amount of Active Pharmaceutical ingredient (API) or transported and distributed under unfavorable conditions.
He said: “Some of the imported brands, overtime, cannot have their quality sustained because Oxytocin injection, which must be stored between two and eight degrees Celsius, may be exposed to negative conditions at the point of entry.
“Furthermore, lack of manpower by exporting companies to monitor post sales activities can only ensue gradual loss of potency and degradation.”
He pledged his company’s preparedness to check the cloning of its products. Also, the company, he said, has in place criteria for supplying to teaching hospitals and distributors. One of the criteria is that there must be storage facility and chillers that meet international standards. He said the company has the capacity to produce for the sub-region.
NAtional Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Director-General Prof Moji Christiana Adeyeye said the agency had carried out market surveys to ensure that there was no fake Oxytocin in the market. He noted that whenever there was infringement, NAFDAC would evacuate and destroy such to protect the lives.
MAN Pharmaceutical Group Chairman, Dr. Okechukwu Akpa, called for medicine security, warning on the dangers of unbridled importation especially of pharmaceutical products into the country.
He said that a lot of challenges are encountered in product handling and storage and called on the government to come out with a protectionist policy and financing for indigenous manufacturing.
A renowned gynaecologist and obstetrician, Professor Osato F. Giwa-Osagie, commended the company for the feat in reducing maternal mortality through their novel product.
He urged NAFDAC and other relevant government agencies, including pharmacists, to protect indigenous pharmaceutical manufacturers from merchants of fake and adulterated pharmaceuticals.
Giwa-Osagie said: NAFDAC and pharmacists should go round and pick the fake alternatives from chemists by evaluation and supervision including on the spot check of the products.”
