WHO: SWIPHA Zinc Sulphate Now Included In Pre-qualified Medicines

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has included Pediatric Zinc Sulphate Tablets (20mg dispersible tablet), which is manufactured by Swiss Pharma (SWIPHA) Nigeria Limited, to its list of Pre-Qualified medicines.

The director-general of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Christianah Adeyeye, who disclosed this in a press briefing on Tuesday, in Lagos, said this laudable feat is the outcome of meaningful collaboration between the Swiss Pharma Nigeria Limited and NAFDAC.

Every year, billions of dollars worth of medicines are purchased by or through international procurement agencies for distribution in resource-limited countries. The advantages of having a Pre-Pre-qualification (PQ) in terms of trade cannot be overemphasized, the DG averred, adding that it helps to ensure that medicines supplied by procurement agencies meet acceptable standards of quality, safety, and efficacy.

“WHO‘s PQ is the fundamental prerequisite for quality assurance of key medical products to be purchased by UN agencies, Global Funds, and United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Today, SWIPHA has this opportunity. This is a new source of business and it will generate foreign currency to the company and Nigeria.

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“PQ helps improve market access or business opportunities and capacity utilization for the company. SWIPHA has the advantage to compete successfully for contract manufacture for local and multinational organization. It also helps to create health and economic impact in Nigeria by ensuring increased availability of quality, efficacious and safe medicines and reducing reliance on imports for public health intervention,“ she revealed

The DG, however, encouraged other frontline local drug manufacturers to emulate this feat through harmonization of collective and synergy of effort with the Agency, while assuring that NAFDAC‘s door is open to serious-minded manufacturers.

According to Frederic Lieutaud, the managing director of Chez Swiss Pharma, (SWIPHA) Nigeria, the pharma company was able to get the pre-qualification certification due to support from NAFDAC, adding that SWIPHA is the first to be recognized by the WHO as operating at an acceptable level of compliance to GMP requirements in West Africa and was the first to attain pre-qualification of its product in the West Africa sub-region while assuring that the company will continue to provide high quality and affordable drugs for Nigerians.