Vaccines: NAFDAC, Pharmaceutical Firms Partner to Attain WHO Maturity Level Four Status

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said it has reached agreement with major players in the nation’s pharmaceutical industry under the aegis of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group- Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN) as part of efforts to attain the World Health Organisation (WHO) Maturity Level 4 status and launch Nigeria into the league of Vaccines and Active
 Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) producers in the world.

The manufacturers, led by the Chairman of PMG-MAN, Dr. Fidelis Ayebae, commended the agency over the achievement of WHO Maturity Level 3, stressing that the group would do everything humanly possible to support NAFDAC to continue to excel in creating an enabling environment for the industry to thrive.
“Let me assure you ma, 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 PMG-MAN,” he said.

Ayebae, who is the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, of Fidson Healthcare Plc, vowed to galvanise 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.
The Director General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, while speaking at the hybrid stakeholders meeting organised by the agency in Lagos, on Pharmaceutical Traceability, disclosed that the nation had to maintain the Maturity Level 3 attained last year by continuing to adhere strictly to the Best Global Practices in regulatory responsibility.

“We are going to strengthen our operations and be more effective. We are going to get ML4. We are going to get marked for World Listed Authority apart from ML4,” she said.
Adeyeye, in a statement signed by the Resident Media Consultant of NAFDAC, Sayo Akintola, stated that the agency recently met all the requirement of ML3, stressing that, “while doing that we got some requirements also satisfied under ML4, but not all. Which means our journey is not going to be as difficult as it was for the last four plus years.”

She emphasised the importance of WHO ML4, which according to her would further boost the trade aspect of the Nigeria’s pharmaceutical industry without diminishing its health implications for the Nigerian populace.
The NAFDAC boss said Nigerians would be more confident of the medicines that they take since the process embarked upon by the Agency is aimed at mitigating against substandard and falsified medicines to a very low prevalence.

She disclosed that it took Ghana 13 years to get ML3, while it took Nigeria four years to attain the prestigious status, adding that achieving ML4 would help the country’s manufacturing industry to grow.
“It will also help importers that are migrating from importation of pharmaceutical products to local manufacturing. It will help in terms of trade,” it added.
She reiterated that NAFDAC would continue to do quality assessment that will lead to trade in the global arena whether in West Africa or globally.
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye explained, a Nigerian entrepreneur produced the medical masks that were exported to the U.S.