NAFDAC To Implement Pharmaceutical Traceability

National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has vowed to confront the menace of substandard and falsified medicines in the country with the implementation of a pharmaceutical traceability strategy.
The Director-General, NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, disclosed this in a statement signed by the Agency’s Resident Media Consultant, Lagos State, Sayo Akintola, on Monday.
Adeyeye said the onerous task of safeguarding the health of the nation was daunting in the face of chaotic drug distribution system currently existing in Nigeria, saying that falsification and diversion of health commodities carry very serious health and economic consequences.
The NAFDAC boss said consideration of these consequences vis-à-vis the mandate of the agency to regulate and control distribution of drugs and other regulated products was sufficient motivation to implement pharmaceutical traceability, complement fight against the menace of substandard and falsified medicines, and improve regulatory control of medicines supply chain in Nigeria.
Adeyeye explained that NAFDAC was committed to the implementation of pharmaceutical traceability in the country as part of the regulatory strengthening and underscoring of its mandate, a quest which she said informed the Traceability Workshop in PortHarcourt, Rivers State, aimed at finalising the Draft Traceability of Pharmaceutical Products in the country.
She said NAFDAC has developed a Five-Year Traceability Implementation plan, in line with objectives of the Nigeria Pharmaceutical Traceability Strategy, to achieve supply chain visibility and strengthen interventions against the scourge of substandard and falsified medicines.

By; Canice Amadi, Enugu