The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMGMAN) have pledged to work together to attain the World Health Organisation Maturity Level 4 status.
NAFDAC said achieving the WHO ML4 will launch the country into the league of vaccines and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients producers in the world.
The ML 4 status is the highest in the WHO’s classification of regulatory authorities for medical products.
In 2022, the WHO announced that NAFDAC reached ML 3. This means that the agency has been found to function well and could be eligible for inclusion into the transitional WHO Listed Authorities, a list that will comprise the world’s regulators of reference.
The Director General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, said the nation has to maintain the ML 3 by continuing to adhere strictly to the best global practices in regulatory responsibility.
A press statement on Sunday signed by the Resident Media Consultant of NAFDAC, Sayo Akintola, noted that Prof Adeyeye spoke at a stakeholders meeting in Lagos on Pharmaceutical Traceability.
‘’We are going to strengthen our operations and be more effective. We are going to get ML 4. We are going to get marked for World Listed Authority apart from ML 4,” she said.
Prof Adeyeye said attaining the ML 4 would further boost Nigeria’s pharmaceutical industry.
“It will also help importers that are migrating from the importation of pharmaceutical products to local manufacturing. It will help in terms of trade.
“If there is an opportunity to trade or sell, it means more companies will be doing liberation or doing partnership. What we want to ensure is that no substandard medicine is exported from Nigeria so that we can foster trade, we can increase our GDP, increase our forex, reduce unemployment, and make ourselves proud. Since this is on a global platform, we have to use international standards,” she said.
She disclosed that the nation is already preparing for vaccine and APIs manufacturing with huge support from the Federal Government to upgrade the NAFDAC vaccine laboratory.
The Chairman of PMGMAN, Dr Fidelis Ayebae, said the group is also ready to support NAFDAC in creating an enabling environment for the industry to thrive.
“Let me assure you that if there is one body in foods and drugs and other related chemicals which are under your purview, that want you to succeed more than anything else, that you can call success, it is PMGMAN, he said.
He vowed to galvanize other Chief Executive Officers of pharmaceutical companies in the country to ensure that they have a collaborative relationship with the regulatory body to make its oversight responsibility over the industry most effective and help the industry to grow.
He added that his body would form a technical committee with NAFDAC that would work with the agency to ensure that the industry attains greater heights.
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