Counterfeit medicine is a significant issue in the region, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimating that Africa accounted for as much of 42% of the world’s fake drugs. According to Fitch Solutions, there are approximately 3m unregistered pharmaceutical premises in Nigeria alone, which pose a threat to public health and the growth prospects of the local pharmaceutical manufacturing industry.
“Counterfeits are one of the most challenging issues faced by regulators,” Mojisola Adeyeye, director-general of NAFDAC, told OBG in an interview in late 2021. When NAFDAC offices were removed from Nigerian ports between 2011 and 2018, the country became “a haven for counterfeit and substandard medicines”, Adeyeye explained. However, the situation improved significantly after the regulator’s port operations restarted and the agency was able to resume the monitoring of goods. NAFDAC has also strengthened its capacity to circumvent domestic counterfeit manufacturing through the implementation of a quality-management system and additional training of staff. Importantly, a WHO- and UNICEF- recommended track-and-trace barcode system has been put in place to strengthen the supply chain for both medications and vaccines to ensure the right products get to patients.
Other public and private sector initiatives to combat counterfeit drugs are also making gains: in the decade leading to 2020 the prevalence of counterfeit drugs dropped from around 30% of the total to less than 10%, according to mPedigree, a Ghanaian company that allows consumers to check the authenticity of medicine via text message. In Nigeria, health tech start-up Medsaf uses data analytics to help with quality control, links manufacturers directly to hospitals and pharmacies, and ensures pharmaceutical authenticity, while NAFDAC conducts medicine and supply chain monitoring.
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