The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control yesterday said it would ensure that 60 percent of the drugs being imported into the country were manufactured locally. Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, the Director-General of the agency, said this at a news conference, on Monday in Abuja.
She stressed the need for the agency to ensure that local pharmaceutical manufacturing sector thrived, adding that a significant amount of substandard and falsified drugs were creeping into the country.
“We want the local manufacturing sector to thrive; we want a situation whereby 60 percent of the country’s products are manufactured locally,” Adeyeye said. She said significant amount of substandard and falsified medicines were being imported as unregistered or registered but with compromise on the content after approval to become substandard.
“One of the drives of my administration is to encourage local manufacturing for products that can be manufactured in Nigeria,” the NAFDAC boss said. She stated that the agency now encouraged innovation from local manufacturers by giving five-year market exclusivity to the innovator- company with capacity to meet the country’s demand.
-NAN