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Tag: Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria

  • PSN calls for stronger laws to tackle fake drug crisis

    PSN calls for stronger laws to tackle fake drug crisis

    As Nigeria grapples with the ongoing issue of fake drugs and governance inefficiencies in its pharmaceutical sector, the newly elected president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Pharm. Ibrahim Tanko Ayuba, has called on the National Assembly to amend the Fake Drug Act and strengthen the regulatory framework to safeguard public health.

    In his inaugural press briefing in Lagos, Pharm. Ayuba expressed deep concern over the growing prevalence of counterfeit medicines in the country. He highlighted alarming statistics dating back to 1988, when the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Federal Ministry of Health reported that 33 percent of drugs in circulation in Nigeria were fake, with seven per cent of these proving fatal when consumed. Pharm. Ayuba also referenced a study by the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Lagos in 1998, which found that nearly 50 per cent of fake drugs originated from Open Drug Markets (ODMs), while about 33 per cent were traced to Patent Medicine Vendors. The PSN president noted that these figures illustrate a public health crisis that has only worsened over time. Current research suggests that over 50 per cent of drugs in circulation today are either fake or substandard, further exacerbating the problem.

    Pharm Ayuba emphasised the urgent need for action, urging lawmakers to amend the current laws and enhance enforcement measures that ensure the safety and quality of medicines in Nigeria. He underscored that reforming the pharmaceutical sector is essential to ensuring public health safety and restoring trust in the healthcare system.

    “The influx of fake drugs, food, and especially drinks in Nigeria, has become a major source of worry in contemporary times. Our usually reliable and dependable research-based efforts indicate that we are back to the days of over 50 per cent of drugs in circulation being fake and substandard, as against official figures hovering between 13 per cent and 15 per cent. At the closing stages of the 1999 transition, the Fake Drug Act was entrenched in the statutes but this has not been substantially activated in recent times,” he said.

    Ayuba lauded recent enforcement efforts by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), particularly the closure of the Sabongari Drug Market following the launch of the first Coordinated Wholesale Centre (CWC) in Kano. He called for the urgent implementation of the National Drug Distribution Guidelines (NDDG) and stronger penalties for fake drug dealers, including fines exceeding N20 million and life imprisonment. “One of the most positive outputs of the new carder at NAFDAC was the landmark collaboration with the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) in January 2024 to seal the Sabongari Drug Market immediately after the first Coordinated Wholesale Centres (CWC) in Nigeria was officially launched in Kano, Kano State. For the records, the CWC are the well-regulated drug centres that are designed to replace the ODMs under the National Drug Distribution Guidelines (NDDG) released 10 years ago in 2015. It is the spirit of such collaborations that we desire to save consumers of health from the almost 5 million unregistered drug-selling outfits which dot both the rural and urban centres in Nigeria,” he said.

    According to him, the National Assembly must amend the existing Fake Drug and Unwholesome Food Act to become a much more potent Act of Parliament. Apart from the dangers which Nigerians are familiar with in the case of fake drugs, the fake drink industry is assuming a gargantuan tens of billion range business championed by modern-day merchants of death. “The National Assembly must go ahead to consider improved sanctions including possible huge fines of over 20 million, life jail sentences or even death sentences for fake drug dealers. Let it be said again that these fake drug dealers are de facto murderers because anyone who tampers with life-saving commodities inherently sets out to kill ab initio.”

    While addressing the implementation of the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) Act, which mandates that all drug-selling and dispensing locations be registered with a Superintendent Pharmacist, Ayuba noted that less than 25 per cent of Federal Government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) comply with this law, leading to increased risks for consumers. “It is however, important to begin to sensitise the government at all levels that the expected benefit package to safeguard public health will not be achievable if they don’t comply fully with the relevant laws. Section 22 of the PCN Act provides that any location where drugs are sold, stocked, dispensed, etc. must be registered by the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria.

    Read Also: War against fake drugs: Protect innocent traders, Reps tell NAFDAC

    “It is a matter of common sense that this implies that once drug items are available in a health facility, the pharmacy must be registered by a Superintendent Pharmacist (section 29 PCN Act). The government oftentimes is the biggest violator of its own laws because our experience reveals that less than 25 per cent of the MDAs at the federal level have registered pharmacies or pharmacists in their employment, yet they actively stock and dispense drugs to consumers of health which is a major source of danger to these unsuspecting consumers. The impunity is spreading at an alarming rate such that even federal health institutions now advertise for health personnel and choose to ignore the employment of pharmacists as we saw with the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Benin, in a well-circulated advert. In the last few days, we have observed that health workers were approved to man health facilities in correctional centres in Nigeria, but again these centres which will all stock drugs were not placed to engage Pharmacists in what is a major distortion of an ideal health service dispensation,” he added.

    The PSN believes that the foundation for these illogicalities was gradually laid and consolidated in the last 10 years at the Federal Ministry of Health which has systematically decimated the status, role and significance of Pharmacists who are no longer invited to even stakeholder consultations in the health sector. The president vowed to take the challenge up with the concerned authorities in the bid to protect public health and the requisite safety nets inherent in the indiscriminate, poor and wretched drug use and management which are palpable fallouts of these misnomers.

  • Pharmacists-Stop patronizing drug hawkers

    Stakeholders in the Pharmaceutical industry have advised the general public to prioritise their healthcare and stop craving over daily chores at the detriment of healthy living.

    The stakeholders, including the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), made the call at the commemoration of the World Pharmacists Day (WPD), organised by the society in Abuja.

    The News Agency of Nigeria report that the WPD is commemorated on Sept. 25 annually and the theme for 2018 is “Pharmacists: Your medicines experts’’.

    Mrs Bridget Otote, immediate past Chairman, FCT Chapter of the society at a sideline interview with newsmen, decried that large number of the populace in the quest for daily living pay less attention to their health.

    Otote also the Chairman, Local Organizing Committee of the 2018 WPD, emphasized that often time due to hardship people undermine their health challenge and go after one business or the other.

    “In as much as we are busy, in as much as times are hard, in as much as we are trying to survive if we are not healthy we cannot make headway in whatever business we indulge in.

    “Let’s take our health seriously. A healthy nation is a wealthy nation,” she said.

    On this year’s theme, Otote described it as a forum of experts in drug production, drug information and drug dispensing, among others.

    Read Also: NCC seeks interconnectivity among data centres for e-health

    He however cautioned the public against patronizing illegal premises, describing such practice as harmful to their health.

    Prof. Moji Adeyeye, the Director-General of NAFDAC, also advised the general public to desist from patronizing quacks and drug hawkers, adding that majority of those drugs are unwholesome.

    The director-general, who was represented by Mrs Chizoba Maduagwuna, Director of Pharmaceutical Services in the agency, however urged Nigerians to report any illegal premises in their domain.

    According to her, this will enable the agency swing into action and reduce the prevalence of drug hawking in the country and at the long run safeguard the health of Nigerians.

    WPD is set aside by the Council of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) in 2009 during its congress at Istanbul, Turkey.

    It is aimed at showcasing the key position pharmacists occupy as the backbone of healthcare in many different settings

  • Pharmacists tackle drug abuse

    The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has reiterated its commitment to tackling drug abuse.

    Its President, Ahmed Yakasai stated this during a training for reporters in Lagos.

    It was part of activities by the society marking the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

    According to Yakasai, drug abuse has reached unprecedented level across all the geopolitical zones in the country.

    “The continuous loss of lives to drug abuse and misuse is really disturbing. This has really perturbed us as professionals. We have put up measures to tackle the menace. We have started with internal regulation and sanitising, which brought us to realise that out of about one million pharmacies operating in Nigeria, only 50,000 renew their licence annually,” he said.

    Yakasai unveiled a report of a  survey by PSN. In the survey titled: ‘’Pharmacists’ perceptions and knowledge and attitudes on the menace of pharmaceutical drug Abuse in Nigeria’’, the body said only 16 per cent of its members have received training on substance abuse disorders.

    Yakasai said the asociation’s Narcotics and Drug Abuse Committee had been educating people on the dangers of drug abuse. He called on the government and other stakeholders to pay more attention to the menace.

    “We believe that with utmost commitment from all stakeholders, we can reduce drug abuse to the lowest ebb in Nigeria. Our focus should be more on prevention of drug abuse as well as treatment of drug addiction in various parts of the country.”

    Yakasai said only 16 per cent of pharmacists have been trained on substance disorders, though 97 per cent have good knowledge of drug abuse as a social problem.

    In the survey, he said, 86 per cent indicated that they could identify signs of drug abuse in addicted persons, but only 46 per cent are familiar with counselling techniques for persons addicted, while 24 per cent are familiar with treatment protocols for substance abuse disorders.

    Yakasai said in the face of the drug abuses, many pharmacies failed to renew their licences.

    The survey, he noted, identified factors boosting drug abuse to include peer pressure, cultism, open drug markets, inadequate regulatory control, inadequate logistics and prevalence of illegal medicine outlets and presence of drug hawkers.

    He also identified common drugs of abuse to include cough syrups with codeine, alcohol, diazepam, bromazepam, methamphetamine and amphetamine.

    According to the study, to tackle drug abuse, there should be capacity development on drug abuse and treatment protocols should be encouraged and enhanced, training for pharmacists, and pharmacy staff, regulators to reinforce regulatory control, institute audit trail for drugs manufactured locally or imported into the country, raise awareness of local drug abuse trends, document and report them by pharmacists.

    Others include the need to raise the level of control, drug abuse prevention should be instituted in the curriculum from primary schools, policy on rehabilitation of drug addicts should be established and disseminated, and more rehabilitation centres should be built.

    Specially designed prescription sheets should be designed and used for controlled medicines to aid documentation and control amongst others, the survey stated.

    He said banning or suspending marketing licences or sale of the products would affect the control or manage drug abuse as it would only result in drugs becoming more expensive as users and sellers go underground and become difficult to track.

    In his lecture titled: “Contemporary issues in healthcare delivery (drug abuse and misuse, AMR, fake and falsified drugs and drug distribution) and PSN,”  Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) Registrar,  Elijah Mohammed said drug abuse is a moral and mental health challenge.

    Mohammed listed the blocking the supply source as one way to stop drug abuse.

    He said once the new National Drug Distribution Guidelines (NDDG) takes off next January 1 and with good enforcement, it would reduce drug abuse.

    Represented by PCN Public Relations Officer (PRO), Peter Iliya, Mohammed added “There is no need to vilify or criminalise drug abuse and misuse or to stigmatise the victims; what the victims need is empathy, rehabilitation and re-orientation.

    “The phenomenon of antimicrobial resistance is of great concern. This is more so that even antibiotics that are considered the last arrows in our quivers in the war against microbes have already fallen victim to antimicrobial resistance. Rational use of antimicrobial agents is, therefore, very essential in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.”

    He added: “In Nigeria, the existence of open drug markets is a major source of falsified and fake medicines. However, at the centre of this menace is the issue of drug distribution in Nigeria. If we have a good, well-regulated and sanitised drug distribution system in Nigeria, fake and falsified medicines would be a thing of the past.

    “Drug distribution is a key and strategic component of any healthcare system. A healthcare delivery system lacks credibility and legitimacy without good drugs. It is therefore paramount for us to have a good drug distribution system that can guarantee safe, efficacious and affordable medicines across all levels of health care delivery in Nigeria.

    “For a long time, our drug distribution system has been in a shambles and disarray due mainly to poor regulation occasioned by absence of political will by successive Governments at the centre,” he added.

  • Ukah wins 2018 Pharma entrepreneur award

    The publisher of PharmaTimes Health publication, Pharm Chris Ukah, has won the prestigious Pharma Entrepreneur of the Year Award of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) Board of Fellows (BOF) for distinguishing himself in the practice of pharmacy in Nigeria.

    The award was presented to him at the 2018 edition of the PSN Board of Fellows annual mid-year meeting /dinner held recently at the banquet hall of Sheraton Hotels and Suites, Ikeja – Lagos by the Director General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye on behalf of BOF.

    Ukah, who is also the Group Managing Director of KCH, an emerging conglomerate with interest in publishing, production and marketing of high quality essential medicines was specifically recognised by BOF for his outstanding and enterprising tenacity in setting up and nurturing PharmaTimes, a pharmaceutical/ health monthly that he promotes.

    Other awardees at the event were, Pharm. Chris Ehimen, director, Nett Pharmacy, and Pharm. Chibuike Uchemadu Agaruwa.

    Tagged: ‘Fundamentals of nation-building- the Role of the citizen’, the guest speaker, Prof. Anao Abhulimen, had identified the display of selfish interest and parochial sentiments among public office holders in the discharge of their responsibilities as the root cause of the prevailing leadership crises in the country.

    The event was attended by distinguished personalities from diverse professional backgrounds and they include: Mr. Fola Adeola, former managing director of Guaranty Trust Bank, and Founder/Chairman, FATE Foundation as chairman of the occasion; Dr. Paul Ananaba (SAN), representative of special guest of honour, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa; Prof. Anao Abhulimen, former Chancellor, University of Benin, guest lecturer; Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, Director General of NAFDAC; Mr. Elijah Mohammed, PCN Registrar; Pharm. Chiedu Ojike Mordi, Chairman BOF; Pharm. Ahmed  Yakasai, PSN President and Mr. Jimmy Agbaje, former governorship aspirant in Lagos.

    Others include: Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, former MD Niemeth Intl Pharma; Chief Victor Amuta, Chairman Editorial Board of PharmaTimes and Barr. NBE Nwigwe, former Chairman of Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and many other dignitaries.

    Fielding questions from journalists shortly after he received the award, Pharm. Ukah expressed gratitude to BOF for the honour done him and PharmaTimes, he said it is acknowledgment of the modest successes achieved by his organisation over the years.

     

  • Pharmacists seek cheaper exchange rate for anti-malaria drugs

    Pharmacists have identified Nigerians’ inability to afford anti-malaria drugs as a major factor hindering the diseases eradication. Nigeria accounts for the world’s 30 per cent cases and deaths from malaria.

    According to Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) President, Ahmed Yakasai, the Federal Government should try its best and reduce foreign exchange (forex) rate of dollar to naira in order to enable the common man access quality health care and anti malaria drugs.

    Yakasai, who said this during a press conference to mark the world malaria day, which coincided with activities to commemorate the 70th anniversary of World Health Organisation (WHO), said: “Government needs to make the business environment more conducive and friendly for pharma businesses by instituting a reasonable tax regimes and make capital available and affordable by also instituting a cheaper exchange rate of not more than N200 for $1 as being done in other sector not as critical as pharmaceutical sector.”

    The theme of this year’s event is: “This World Malaria Day, we’re ready to beat malaria – are you?”

    The government, he said, must encourage research and development and kick off of petrochemical industries to encourage local production of drugs, adding that as long as 95 per cent of raw materials; active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), excipients and packaging materials for drugs are imported, the prices of medicines will continue to skyrocket.

    “If you clean your environment, mosquitoes still abound in the environment. And people still come down with malaria. I am still appealing to manufacturers and retailers to see malaria issue as a social service to the people. They should be kind enough to reduce their prices so that it will be affordable and accessible,”he said.

    He added: “I am happy with what the government signed when its representatives went for the commonwealth summit by agreeing to halve malaria cases by 50 per cent in the next five years. They want to reduce the death in African countries, especially the 11 countries plus Nigeria. Nigeria is going all out to collaborate with global fund to pay its counterpart funding, create awareness and distribute treated insecticide mosquito nets.

    “By working down FOREX more drugs will be available because production cost will reduce. In addition to this, Nigerians should be more health conscious and clean their environments to prevent malaria.”

    To encourage budding pharmacist in malaria elimination and tackle the widespread of malaria, Miral essay competition has been launched to engage young pharmacists and undergraduates in pharmacy. The topic is: “Ending malaria deaths in Africa: the challenges, the opportunities”.

    Miral Pharmaceuticals Managing Director,  Mr Onyeka Onyeibor, said the competition will help take on the possible solutions on the reduction of malaria as the deadly killer of about one thousand people every day. He added that the objective of the competition is to discover students and young health professionals, who do not only know about malaria, but effectively can communicate it to the global community as well as the Nigerian public.

    Onyeibor said the winner will be awarded a million naira while the Dean of the Faculty that produces the first prize winner will get N500.000. And the Dean of the Faculty that produces the highest number of participants will also get N500, 000.

    Meanwhile, “Ready to Beat Malaria”, the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership to End Malaria, has urged governments, health bodies, private sector companies and the public to accelerate the progress against malaria, and make the World Malaria Day more vital.

    It noted that after a decade of success in pushing back malaria, it has been on the rise again and will come back with a vengeance if ‘we do not act decisively now’. “Half of the world is still threatened by malaria, an entirely preventable, treatable disease, which takes a child’s life every two minutes. Worldwide action is needed to meet the 2030 target of reducing malaria cases by at least 90 per cent.

    “We are delighted that more countries than ever, forty-four, are reporting less than 10,000 cases. However, we must ensure we continue to press forward to end malaria – not only in high- burden nations, but those on track to eliminate the disease. It is our global responsibility to consign malaria to the history books,” it stated.

  • Pharmacists decry high drugs import

    Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has decried the country’s reliance on imported pharmaceutical products.

    The society lamented the rampant abuse of drugs and other substances by youths.

    Its President Ahmed Yakasai   spoke to reporters in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital ahead of the inauguration of the new state executives of the PSN.

    Yakasai said 70 percent of the drugs being consumed in the country is imported from China, India, Pakistan and even Ghana.

    He said: “We have been fighting fake and sub-standard products. We have been fighting drug abuse. Drug abuse is dangerous to the economy and nation’s security.

    “If the medicines are not available, surely there be security problems. We know what is happening as par herbal drugs. when I travelled to Ghana, a small country that is not up to the population of Kano, I noticed that it is manufacturing herbal drugs for export. When I went to the United States three months ago, I saw Ghana’s pharmacobia. So, I started making noise in the social media before the Minister for Health Prof Isaac Adewole set up a committee on Nigeria’s pharmacobia.

    “So, PSN is fighting fake and sub-standard drugs, drug abuse and promoting local production of drugs. We have a national policy on drug production. The last time it was reviewed was 2005. We agreed that Nigeria’s manufacturers should produce 70 percent of the drugs for local consumption and 30 percent  imported.

    “We are supposed to be exporting drugs, but Nigeria is still getting them from China, Pakistan. Ghana  plans to be the hub of drug production in Africa. They want to produce and bombard Nigeria with pharmaceutical products.

    Yakassi said because there was no enabling environment, too many taxes and lack of infrastructure, and that were yet to reach the level Ghana had attained. He said we produce about 30 percent and import the balance, despite that we have the human resources.

    He praised Dangote  for investing in a petrochemical company where Nigerians could get chemicals for drug production. The Dangote Petrochemical would be 13 times that of Eleme Petrochemicals, he said.

    To ensure that the petrochemical company comes on stream, Dangote, he said, sent 800 Nigerians abroad for training, adding that soon Nigeria will be exporting.

    “You were aware when we were fighting common tariff, some people went to Bamako, Mali and after taking tea, they now agreed that pharmaceuticals should attract zero tariff finished products and that raw materials for pharmaceuticals should attract three to 20 percent tariff because many of those small countries don’t have industries. Fortunately, Nigeria signed. And we have about 178 pharmaceutical industries, 120 are registered and four qualified by World Health Organisation.

    “Unfortunately, before you are qualified, you had to spend $4 million without any assistance from the government. So far, two of them are moribund. Swifer has already been taken over by a bank and sold. Evans already taken over by the bank and almost sold. Others near comatose.”

     

  • Paracetamol abuse damages liver, Kidney says PSN chairman

    Paracetamol abuse damages liver, Kidney says PSN chairman

    Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria ( PSN ) has warned against indiscriminate or misuse of Paracetamol, saying such practice damages the liver and kidney.

    Mr Jelili Kilani, PSN Chairman, FCT Chapter, who disclosed this in an interview in Abuja on Tuesday emphasised that Paracetamol, an analgesic, was not suppose to be misused.

    Kilani defined drug misuse as the use of drug for purposes for which it was not intended or using a drug in excessive quantities.

    He further described drug abuse as an ill-wind which its effect might not manifest immediately but later in life.

    The chairman, however, decried the usual practice of taking about three or more tablet of Paracetamol at once to fast track healing processes.

    Read also: Your kidney is your life

    “By engaging in such practice, you are damaging your internal organs like the liver and kidney, which if care is not taken, such damages cannot be remedy.’’

    Kilani, therefore, urged the general public to desist from misuse of Paracetamol  in order to avert inflicting injury to their system.

    “Misuse of drug is when somebody is tired and decides to take three or more tablet of Paracetamol simply because he wanted a quicker or higher effect.

    “As good as Paracetamol is, if not properly taken, it damages the liver and kidney; the only drug that is harmless to the body is water.

    “I advise the public to desist from self medication.

    “If anyone is experiencing feverish condition or body pains after taking Paracetamol once and the symptoms persist, they should consult medical doctors rather than taking the drug continuously,” he said.

    NAN