NAFDAC alerts the nation to fake anti-hypertension drugs

NAFDAC alerts the nation to fake anti-hypertension drugs
The Zonal Coordinator of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Maiduguri, Borno State, Mallam Sabo Adamu, has alerted the nation to the circulation of fake and substandard anti-hypertension drugs known as Propranolol or Inderal in the market. Adamu stated this in Maiduguri while receiving fake and substandard drugs worth more than N5m from Mr. Frank Orji for destruction, the News Agency of Nigeria said. Orji is the chairman of Nigerian Association of Patent Proprietary Medicine Dealers of Gamboru Unit, Maiduguri. The coordinator said that the drug was not registered with the agency, adding that the agency could not guarantee the safety and quality of the drugs. He, therefore, advised that anybody having the medicine in stock should surrender it to NAFDAC or face sanctions. The co-ordinator, who commended the efforts of NAPPMED, also challenged other stakeholders in pharmacies, supermarkets and warehouses to demonstrate same and safeguard the lives of innocent consumers. Adamu warned medicine dealers in Borno to desist from buying drugs from traders, who, he said, peddled all sorts of fake drugs from Onitsha and Kano at giveaway prices. According to him, some of the merchants use Kano motor park and Hausari ward in the metropolis to transport the drugs to Chad and Cameroun Republics. He said the agency had mounted its surveillance cameras in those areas to track down the dealers. Adamu said that NAFDAC, in collaboration with the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, would soon organise a sensitisation workshop. He said the workshop would seek to educate and empower consumers with adequate knowledge on their rights to access safe, efficacious and quality products.