In a bid to ensure zero tolerance for circulation of Substandard and Falsified medicines in Nigeria, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control NAFDAC has shut down six local manufacturers of finished pharmaceutical products FPPs.

The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye in a press statement said the pharmaceutical companies were shut down following nationwide surveillance on their manufacturing activities.

Adeyeye noted with dismay that the local manufacturers, in spite of appropriate notification, failed to meet minimum Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards in line with extant requirements which are required to assure the quality, safety, and efficacy of pharmaceutical products.

She maintained that the companies will remain shut until the respective GMP compliances are met.

She stated that these current actions are to serve as deterrents to all local and foreign manufacturers who may not want to comply with basic GMP requirements and join the Agency in its renewed campaign to rid the country of SF medicines.

NAFDAC in its current effort to address the challenges of Substandard and Falsified (SF) medicines in Nigeria recently blacklisted a foreign manufacturer of finished pharmaceutical products (FPPs) and delisted its local representative for gross violation of NAFDAC extant laws and regulations.

Adeyeye however, stated that ‘’NAFDAC owes the nation the onerous responsibility of safeguarding public health and will not backtrack in ensuring that only medicines that are safe, efficacious and of good quality are accessible to the Nigerians’’(Vanguard)