The Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, has reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to eliminating substandard and falsified (SF) medicines in Nigeria, describing the menace as a grave threat engineered by “greedy businessmen and their international collaborators.”
Speaking at a two-day Sensitisation and Awareness Workshop on the use of the Greenbook, Traceability Project, and Paediatric Policy to tackle fake and substandard drugs, Adeyeye called on stakeholders across the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors to actively support NAFDAC’s mission to sanitise the drug markets in the country.
“Let us work together to rid our markets, communities, and nation of fake drugs. Our people deserve nothing less than safe, high-quality medicines,” she urged.
At the workshop which held at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Prof. Adeyeye declared that combating fake drugs is not only a regulatory obligation but also a moral imperative to safeguard public health.
The Two-Day NAFDAC BMGF-Sponsored Workshop on Dissemination and Sensitisation on NAFDAC Scan2Verify and GreenbookApp for Stakeholders, was held from June 17 – 18.
Adeyeye who was represented by Fraden Bitrus, director, Post-Marketing Surveillance (PMS), said,
“This is the worst inhumanity of man to fellow men,” referring to the manufacture and circulation of counterfeit medicines.”
NAFDAC, she noted, has implemented several strategies over the years, including public awareness campaigns such as Shine Your Eyes on national television, printed safety alerts in newspapers, and the deployment of detection technologies like Mobile Authentication Service (MAS), Truscan, and Minilab.
But with counterfeiters becoming increasingly sophisticated, NAFDAC is shifting gears to match their evolution by leveraging modern technologies. Prof. Adeyeye unveiled three major regulatory innovations, the NAFDAC Greenbook which is a new online tool aimed at empowering consumers and stakeholders with real-time verification of drug authenticity. Users can input a product name, brand, or registration number to confirm if it has been approved by NAFDAC.
“If the product is listed in the Greenbook, it signifies that it has been registered by NAFDAC and is considered authentic,” she explained.
This tool is expected to significantly enhance consumer protection by helping users avoid fake and substandard products.
According to the director general, another tool is the Pharmaceutical Traceability Regulation 2024.
“This groundbreaking regulation provides a legal and technological framework for tracking pharmaceutical products throughout the supply chain. Each drug will carry a unique identifier created by the brand owner, enabling authorities and stakeholders to trace its journey from production to the point of sale.
“Nigeria is the first in Africa and the second in the world to deploy this level of traceability technology,” Prof. Adeyeye revealed, citing its successful use during COVID-19 vaccine distribution. “Within 24 hours, batches of defective vaccines were traced and recalled.”
The traceability system is being rolled out in phases, starting with high-risk items such as antimalarial and narcotic drugs, with the aim of eventually covering all regulated pharmaceutical products.
In addition, Prof Adeyeye highlighted the significance of Paediatric Regulation 2024, which addresses the unique healthcare needs of children. This new regulation ensures that all pediatric medicines meet stringent standards for safety, efficacy, and age-appropriate formulation.
“Children are not just small adults. Their special needs are now being directly addressed in our regulatory framework,” said Prof. Adeyeye.
As Nigeria leads the continent with these pioneering regulatory strategies, NAFDAC’s approach presents a promising path toward ending the scourge of fake medicines—an issue that has plagued communities for decades and claimed countless lives.
Echezona Okafor.
