The Nationwide Company for Meals and Drug Administration and Management (NAFDAC) has known as on Nigerian pharmaceutical producers to put money into native vaccine manufacturing to organize in opposition to future public well being crises.
The Director-Common of NAFDAC, Mojisola Adeyeye, issued the decision in a press release on Sunday, stressing that Nigeria should not wait for one more pandemic earlier than investing in obligatory well being infrastructure and capability.
Mrs Adeyeye, a professor warned that Nigeria relied closely on worldwide donors through the COVID-19 pandemic, a scenario that should not be repeated.
“We should not be caught unprepared once more,” she stated.
“The company has improved its regulatory techniques for vaccines, biologics, and medical units by present process restructuring and collaborating within the World Well being Organisation’s (WHO) international benchmarking programme for nationwide regulatory authorities.”
The NAFDAC Director-Common expressed hope that Nigeria would manufacture its personal vaccines earlier than her tenure ends, calling it a private aim and a major step in direction of nationwide pharmaceutical independence.
She famous that the company had developed clear pointers for epidemic and pandemic preparedness, urging Nigeria to keep away from being on the mercy of different international locations in future international well being emergencies.
Mrs Adeyeye challenged native pharmaceutical firms to rise to the event, saying the time had come for Nigeria to cease over-relying on different nations and take management of its vaccine manufacturing.
“For any nation to provide WHO-prequalified vaccines, it should obtain at the very least Maturity Stage three in regulatory oversight, a milestone Nigeria has reached for imported medicines and vaccines,” she stated.
“NAFDAC has fulfilled eight of 9 WHO World Benchmarking Instrument modules, together with these associated to licensing.
“The ultimate requirement, native vaccine manufacturing, is critical to finish the benchmarking course of for vaccines.”
Mrs Adeyeye acknowledged that NAFDAC is the one regulatory company in sub-Saharan Africa with an in-house laboratory for vaccines, biologics, and medical units, in contrast to South Africa’s outsourced mannequin.
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“Final yr, WHO inspectors reviewed NAFDAC’s capability for vaccine lot launch and high quality management,” she stated.
“Nonetheless, native manufacturing remains to be required to allow full facility inspections and full the analysis course of.
Mrs Adeyeye defined that WHO now expects the company to reveal related capability for monitoring domestically produced vaccines.
“We’re shut. As soon as Nigeria begins producing vaccines, we are going to meet the ultimate standards for full WHO recognition. I pray we obtain this very quickly,” she stated.
(NAN)
