Nigerians urged to invest in drug production

Chairman, Bradford Pharmaceuticals Limited, Idowu Obasa, has urged Nigerians to invest in pharmaceutical manufacturing to assist health care delivery in the country.
Obasa gave the advice during the Trade and Product presentation of the company’s new medicines in Lagos.
According to him, it is advisable to encourage local production of pharmaceuticals to increase healthy living and sound physical condition of the people.
He said, “By investing in pharmaceutical manufacturing, we are looking at social consciousness and responsibility. We are contributing to local industrialisation with collateral benefit of creating jobs for our pool of unemployed youths.
“Furthermore, with the cases of fake and counterfeit medicines coming from Asia and scarcity of foreign exchange (currency) for importation of goods and services, local production of pharmaceuticals would contribute to availability of safe and effective medicines for health care delivery, conservation of foreign exchange and utilisation of locally produced raw materials and services.”
Obasa, who lamented incidence of poisoning, stressed that the pharmacy had researched the causes and identified the problems before manufacturing its drugs.
“You will recall that in 1990 and 2008, there were unfortunate incidents of poisoning involving some brands of paracetamol syrup and baby teething in this country. We have lost many innocent promising children in those epidemics due to misapplication of certain solvents,” he said.
Managing Director, BPL, Dr. Bode Tawak, noted that manufacturing of pharmaceuticals was being hindered by fake drugs, inadequate funding and importation policies, saying such acts discouraged people from investing in the sector.
“Like any other industry, the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals are faced with challenges such as importation policies, presence of fake drugs, inadequate fund. And it is unfortunate that some pharmacists cannot differentiate original from fake. Our drug is affordable and researched for standard usage,” he said.
Representative of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Oyawole Anthony, commended the company for its effort to enhance safe health care delivery in the country.
“This idea has a multiplier effect. It will not only help health professionals, but the general populace. Considering that investing into drug manufacturing is faced with numerous challenges, this is a move from hospitality to hospitable service,” he said.