• Plans clampdown on hawkers, illegal drug stores
• Recommends Artemisin Combination Therapies
• To deploy software to check information
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC)
has said that there are no ‘killer’ anti-malaria drugs in Nigeria.
The Acting Director-General, NAFDAC, Dr. Yetunde Oni, who stated this yesterday
at a news conference in Lagos, said the reports in the social media on the
‘kidney-killer’ malaria drugs were false as there are no such drugs in the
country.
Against the backdrop of the dangers posed by the drugs, the Senate had
flayed the NAFDAC and Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) for not
adequately waging the war against the influx of fake and sub-standard items
into the country.
The NAFDAC boss said the allegedly banned drugs are oral monotherapies
containing single Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) such as Artesunate as
contained in Arinate tablet, Amodiaquine contained in Comoquine,
Dihydroartemisinin contained in Alaxin tablets and Pyrimethamine contained in
Daraprim tablets which are not recommended for the treatment of malaria in
Nigeria.
She said the agency is committed to the well-being of Nigerians and so
wishes to douse the tension and correct the misinformation on the social media
and mainstream media about the banned drugs.
Oni said: “We want to douse the tension and correct the misinformation on
the social and mainstream media about the 42 anti-malaria medicines purportedly
banned by the European Union (EU) but allegedly circulating in the country.
The Acting DG, therefore, urged Nigerians to use the recommended anti-malarial
medicine Artemisin Combination Therapies (ACTs) for the treatment of malaria,
which is in line with the guidelines according to the WHO and the Nigeria
National Anti-malarial Treatment Policy.
She, however, noted that with the progress made in the
anti-counterfeiting technology device (Scratch and Text) put in place by the
agency to monitor fake drugs, the agency would in some weeks deploy software on
phones to checkmate the status of any NAFDAC regulated products.
Responding on the use of chloroquine as an anti-malarial drug, Director,
Registration and Regulation Affairs, NAFDAC, Mrs. Titi Owolabi, said though the
drug is in the market, it does not serve as anti-malaria as it has its own
functions.
She urged Nigerians to stop using the drug in the treatment of malaria as
it serves another purpose.
0 Comments