Pharmacists Bemoan Drug Manufacturing Policies Stunting Sector Growth

Pharmaceutical experts and others in the pharmaceutical industry have cried out over some government policies they say were antithetical to the growth of the sector, calling for urgent development of basic infrastructure to drive drug manufacturing in the country.

The experts said the Nigerian government must provide favourable government policies and enabling environment to make not only the pharmaceutical sector but other sectors of the economy thrive.

They made these calls during the 5th Anniversary of St. Racheal’s Pharma and the launch of its new product, Azithromycin, in Lagos with the theme: “Manufacturing Renaissance: A Must for Prosperity in Nigeria”, and the launch of St. Racheal’s brand of Azithromycin antibiotic.

They lamented that the Pharma industry in Nigeria operates in the face of challenges of poor power, water supply, and production of excipients among others.

They further decried the over N800 billion spent annually on the importation of malaria drugs, antibiotics, and vaccines despite having a sizeable number of manufacturing companies that can produce the drugs locally.

According to them, only 30 percent of the country’s drug needs are met leaving out 70 percent in the hands of importers.

The situation they said continued to put 200 million Nigerians at risk of epidemics.

In his views, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, May & Baker Nigeria, Patrick Ajah, who decried the many challenges of the pharma sector disclosed that they spent over N250 million monthly on power generation.

Listing some of the challenges of pharma manufacturers including; power, huge interest rates, regulations, and extortion of pharma companies by government agencies and infrastructures, he lamented the huge resources spent on vaccine importation in Nigeria.

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Ajah stressed the need for the government to revitalise export processing zones by reviewing local fiscal and regulatory incentives, rationalise tariffs, and institute wavers on the equipment and machinery imports required for agro-industry.

“The country needs to find other ways to participate in the global economy, especially as it has signed the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement .”

He said local pharmaceutical production could help the vulnerable population gain access to quality medicine, as seen during COVID-19.

“There are about 115 local pharmaceutical manufacturers taking care of the drug needs of less than 40 percent of the country’s population, compared to India which has about 3,000 registered pharmaceutical companies and over 10,500 manufacturing sites. If we don’t build our manufacturing sector, other countries will come and claim it from us by building their facility and taking the money back to develop their countries,” he stated.

Speaking, the Deputy Governor of Imo State, Mr. Placid Njoku regretted that Nigeria despite its huge population is still dependent on countries like India, China, Germany, the United States, Pakistan, and the Netherlands for 70 percent of its drug needs.

He disclosed that Nigeria imports over N200 billion worth of malaria drugs and about N600 billion of antibiotics annually.

In her presentation tagged: “Manufacturing Renaissance: Technology as an Enabler”, the Country Manager of Microsoft Nigeria and Ghana, Mrs. Olatomiwa Williams, urged the pharma sector to leverage technology to drive the manufacturing of drugs.

According to her, technology will help drive sustainability as well as create employment opportunities, particularly, for the teeming youths.

She urged the pharmaceutical industry to engage in the use of several technology tools such as Artificial Intelligent (AI), analytics, and cloud for data to drive their manufacturing process.

The participants at the event were optimistic that the new antibiotic that was launched will further boost Nigeria’s infection management and control given the drug’s quality, easy dosage regimen, affordability, and high effectiveness.