The National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has destroyed counterfeit drugs worth N500 million in Anambra state.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Dr Paul Orhii, disclosed this while setting the products ablaze in a dump site in Awka.
Orhii said the unwholesome drugs were mostly surrendered by traders across the state.
He said that the destruction exercise was aimed at preventing the re-introduction of the products into the market.
“The products destroyed today are made up of counterfeit and fake anti-malaria, anti-hypertensive, anti-biotic, anti-diabetics, analgesics, injectables of various kinds, multi-vitamin seized by NAFDAC from the manufacturers, importers and distributors in Anambra state.
“As well as expired pharmaceutical products voluntarily handed over by Onitsha Head-Bridge Drug Market Union and compliant companies in line with regulatory guidelines.
“If not for the vigilance and timely interventions of NAFDAC, these expired and unwholesome products would have found their way into circulation and their use would have resulted in therapeutic failure, drug resistance, adverse drug reactions, kidney failure, liver failure and death.
“I wish to reiterate our stance on zero tolerance on fake and counterfeit drugs and other NAFDAC regulated products and also state that the agency will leave no stone unturned in eradicating these products from our society,”
“It is in this spirit that I am soliciting for the unrelenting support of the government of Anambra State, all stakeholders, traditional rulers, religious leaders, the Nigerian Police Force, the Nigerian Custom Services, NDLEA, SON and other sister agencies, the press to sustain the tempo of the fight.” he said.
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