AHMEDABAD: Reacting to the seizure of fake Chinese drugs carrying a made-in-India tag, the Nigerian drug regulator has decided to set up its offices in India.
The presence of Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) offices in prominent cities like New Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad (likely city in Gujarat) will ensure that the regulator is in the know of the Indian drug supplying companies.
NAFDAC’s director general Paul B Orhii, told ET on Wednesday: "We are here as we want to work jointly with the Indian government to fight the counterfeit drug menace. We plan to have a number of offices in India by the end of this year."
It makes a lot of sense for Nigeria to have an office in India because India is the second-largest drug exporter to Nigeria, after Europe. As per the industry estimates, Nigeria’s pharma market is about $10 billion and 60% of its drug requirements are through imports. Indian drug companies command a 12-15% share in Nigeria’s imports.
A NAFDAC delegation was on a visit to Ahmedabad on Wednesday to meet the top pharma companies and representatives of Indian Pharmaceuticals Alliance (IPA) and Indian Drug Manufactures’ Association (IDMA).
IDMA’s Gujarat chapter honorary secretary Chirag Doshi told ET after the meeting that the association suggested not only to set up offices in India but also to have a registered agent system in place to avoid recurrence of such incidents (supply of fake drugs) in future. IDMA and IPA are engaged with NAFDAC as the issue has serious implications on the image of Indian generic drug industry.
To begin with, NAFDAC may come up with three offices. "We are looking for suitable locations to set up our offices, but certainly for now, Delhi, Mumbai and Gujarat are on the radar", Mr Ohrii said. Gujarat, that contributes 40% of India’s pharmaceutical production, is an important state for NAFDAC to set up its office. The offices will help in identifying the Indian drug suppliers in advance and would help NAFDAC to know the place of origin of the imported drugs, Mr Ohrii said.
He further emphasised that the Indian government had the resources and manpower to tackle the menace and that NAFDAC has sought support from the Indian authorities. On Tuesday, NAFDAC met top officials in New Delhi and discussed the fake drug issue. According to the Nigerian delegation, India has assured to extend help to Nigeria in building its drug production capacity, setting up a detection center, and a drug testing & quality testing centre.
Recently, NAFDAC confiscated a large consignment of fake anti-malarial generic pharmaceuticals with `Made in India’ tags shipped from China in the month of May. According to NAFDAC, had the drugs not been seized, they could have affected as many as 6,42,000 patients.
Following the incident, the Chinese authorities have admitted that the consignments originated from China and the local manufacturers needed to be punished. Meanwhile, Nigerian government has contacted Interpol to take up the issue of fake drugs originating from China. On this Mr Orhii, said, "We would certainly like the perpetrators of the crime to be tried in Nigeria."
Source : The Economic Times