Distribution of fake drugs

The demand for drugs has increased rapidly in recent years because there is increase in unhealthy lifestyle which has led to pathological results. The effect of this is that drugs that are usually the substandard versions of the main products are now distributed widely. The growing market has created opportunities for criminals who disregard quality of human life to distribute these drugs.

These fake drugs are mostly found in manufacturing areas where there are no tools and technical staff to provide healthy and quality applications in quality control and distribution as well as in areas that are not checked and controlled by the drug agencies.

I believe the government is one of the main causes of the distribution of fake drugs because it has refused to invest in pharmacies. Corruption has eaten deep into the core of governance such that the funds given to help the state pharmacies have been diverted for personal use of some individuals.

Other causes for distribution of fake drugs include lack of investment capital and poor infrastructure. Often small and medium sized pharmacies in developing countries do not adhere to international standards because regulatory checks on production are inconsistent.

Government has not done much in creating preventive methods to stop the distributors of these fake drugs. Although they have looked into the matter and brought out few opinions about strengthening the power of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), prohibiting import of drugs through terrestrial borders and creating the West Africa Drug Regulatory Authority Network (WADRAN), a forum of exchange for those responsible for the operations, fighting against counterfeit drugs in the region, much has still not been done.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), drugs that are mostly fake are almost visually identical to the genuine products and very difficult to detect. However, many can still be identified by examining the packaging for spelling mistakes or grammatical errors, ensuring that the details about the expiry date in the outer packaging matches the details about the expiry date in the inner packaging, checking the smell and colour and reporting suspicious medical products to National Medicines Regulatory Authority.

The Pharmaceutical Track and Trace system suggests that the possible solution to stop the distribution of fake drugs is to use track and trace systems to provide clean and well-regulated supply chains. With these systems, the government can share incident reports with WHO which can analyse the reports and provide different solutions to the problem.

I strongly believe that there are ways to counter this problem if we all work together to fight the menace.

Okwodu Gift Isaac

Ilisan Remo