The Director General of National Agency for Food
and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has revealed
that only 17 per cent of drugs in circulation in Nigeria are substandard.
Stating this at a press briefing in Lagos
on Monday, she said the most recent study was done in 2012 by the United States
Pharmacopeia and that no other study has been done since then.
Adeyeye, who was responding to viral reports on
social media and online platforms that 70 per cent of drugs in the country were
fake or substandard, said plans were on the way to embark on a new study, which
she believes would show that substandard drugs have been reduced to the
minimum.
She said: "For essential medicine, it is much lower
than the general medicine which is 17 per cent. Just March this year, the study
we did showed that only 1.3 per cent of essential drugs in circulation were
fake.
"In the general study we are planning, we will
require at least 80 Truscans. And one Truscan cost at least $50,000. We will
also do laboratory tests for further study."
Truscan is a device used in ascertaining if
medicines are authentic or fake.
Adeyeye said while she believes the country can be
free from fake and substandard products, the country has the capacity to
produce at least 70 per cent of its medicines.
"I am a firm believer of local production of
medicines. We are not there yet, but it is possible," she said.
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