Orhii: Attention Must Be Paid
Dr. Paul Orhii, Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control of Nigeria (NAFDAC) exhorted strong international collaboration of drug regulatory agencies to fight counterfeit drug crime at the 14th International Conference of Drug Regulatory Authorities in Singapore on December 8th, 2010.
Dr. Paul Orhii, Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control of Nigeria (NAFDAC) exhorted strong international collaboration of drug regulatory agencies to fight counterfeit drug crime at the 14th International Conference of Drug Regulatory Authorities in Singapore on December 8th, 2010.
Dr. Orhii, who is also vice-chairman of the International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Task Force (IMPACT) based in Geneva, said that rising online counterfeit drug purchases in more developed countries has spread the concern for fake medicines from the developing world to the world stage, reports the Sun News.
He also said the war against cocaine in Latin America has worsened drug counterfeiting because “drug barons are now diverting into counterfeiting because they assumed it to be less risky, thereby, the drug counterfeiting situation is getting more sophisticated and militarized,”reports the Sun News.
NAFDAC has worked closely with World Health Organization’s agencies in West Africa, as well as regulatory bodies in the U.S., China and India to try to ensure that only legitimate medications enter Nigeria.
Other speakers at the Conference were Director of the Chinese Food and Drug Administration, Mr. Lei Sun, Mr. Naeem-Ahmed, Head of UK Drug Enforcement, Mr. Sergey Glagolev of Russia and Mr. Andreas Balsige of the Swiss Drug Regulatory Authority, reports the NAFDAC press release.