President Bola Tinubu has directed the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, to prepare an executive order to regulate pharmaceutical products prices and make essential medicines more affordable for citizens.

Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Ali Pate, disclosed this to journalists, yesterday, at a pharmaceutical stakeholders meeting in Lagos where issues affecting the industry were highlighted and discussed.

Outlining the challenges, Federation of Nigeria Pharmaceutical Industry Associations (FeNPIA) stated that the industry faces challenges that inhibit its expected growth.

“The Nigerian Pharmaceutical industry is heavily import-dependent. Most of our production inputs and finished pharmaceutical products are imported, which only means that the final pricing of the finished product depends on the Foreign Exchange (FOREX) rate. As much as we understand the current monetary exchange regime in the country, we strongly recommend that the pharmaceutical industry be given special priority to access FOREX at rates that will moderate the final cost of medicines and other strategic healthcare commodities of critical need.

“NAFDAC is working assiduously with the Nigerian pharmaceutical industry to boost local production and place the industry on the global pedestal. We recommend continued and adequate support for the agency to continue in its role of working effectively with the Industry players.

“As one of the ways to quickly improve access to quality, safe and productive medicines across the whole healthcare value chain; we recommend a coordinated and strategic procurement process which could be by way of pooled procurement or public–private partnership in the medicine supply chain, as is being practised currently between some states and members of the pharmaceutical Industry. There is a need to foster strong collaboration between the National Health Insurance Authority, local manufacturers and overseas pharmaceutical distributors/importers to achieve Universal Health Coverage in line with the NHIA Act 2022.

“Create a N600 billion Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Development Fund at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or Bank of Industry (BOI) at five per cent interest over a minimum seven to 10-year tenure to support the Pharma Manufacturing Value Chain, APIs, Vaccines, Critical Supply Chain Interventions, R&D, Bioequivalence Studies, WHO Prequalification and Regulatory Development. This fund will fast-track Nigeria into becoming a natural hub for the pharma industry in Africa, with benefits ranging from healthcare to FOREX earnings and contribution to GDP and employment., pharmaceutical manufacturing development funds, research and development.”

Addressing the rising costs of pharmaceutical products, Pate expressed the government’s commitment to alleviating the burden on Nigerians, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable. He acknowledged the challenges faced by the pharmaceutical sector, including the importation of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs).

He reassured the public that the government was working on diversifying API sources and ensuring regulatory standards to guarantee the quality and safety of locally produced pharmaceuticals.

He said: “The rising cost of pharmaceuticals is a major issue that bothers all of us in government. It’s not only a Nigerian issue; it is a global issue. In the context of administration, we are very focused on what we can do to ease the burden on Nigeria, especially the poorest and most vulnerable. So, this is a very fruitful consultation.

“We have a very vibrant local manufacturing industry in the pharmaceutical sector, and we have many beginning to show interest in coming into our economy. In the last three months, we have had at least three major players exploring the opportunities to come and manufacture in Nigeria. We do hope that many others will come in and that our local industries will thrive. It’s not easy at this point, but we know these clouds will pass and Nigeria will rise again. So, we are very confident that the industry will be able to weather the difficulties of today.

“We have listened to all the concerns and this is a listening government and we are taking actions to see how we can reduce the burden at the end of the day. Our objective is to have the local manufacturers of pharmaceuticals thrive.

“The issue of APIs that are being imported, this has been going on for decades. It didn’t start in the last six months or the last one year. But we are now beginning to tackle it. As we know, even some of the advanced economies get their APIs from one or two countries. But Nigeria is looking at how we can help diversify the sources of the APIs. It will take time. In one year, you cannot solve what has not been done for decades, but we are very committed and the President has given his own clear direction that we should encourage the private sector to provide what is needed by Nigerians and ensure that the regulatory standards are at the level we can assure the quality and the safety of what has been produced in Nigeria. So, we are committed to doing that and this consultative forum was a great start. And we’ll have the follow on.

“This is the first time the government and the pharmaceutical industry is having this kind of dialogue and we have listened in a very constructive manner and received very good suggestions on what needs to be done and the President himself has directed the Attorney General to develop an executive order. So, Nigeria should just be assured that President Tinubu is listening and concerned about issues that affect the welfare of Nigerians and we are committed to delivering on those working across sectors between the public sector and the private sector.

“The wider macro economy of this country is challenged and that has occurred over several years. We are now trying to see how to reverse that.” (The Guardian)

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