The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has gone digital in its efforts to rid the country of substandard and falsified pharmaceutical products.
During a two-day workshop and training session in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Wednesday, NAFDAC introduced an app, Greenbook, an online platform for identifying the source of a product.
The Greenbook allows consumers to enter the product name, brand name, or registration number to search for information about its registration status.
If the product is listed in the Greenbook, it signifies that it has been registered by NAFDAC and is considered authentic.
The app serves as a tool to help consumers identify and avoid potentially fake or substandard products.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, speaking at the workshop in Port Harcourt, stated that these fake products are “produced by our greedy businessmen and their international collaborators to get rich or make money,” describing it as the worst form of inhumanity of man to his fellow men.
Prof. Adeyeye, who was represented by the Director of the Post-Marketing Surveillance Directorate, NAFDAC, Fraden Bitrus, noted that the agency has, over the years, deployed various measures to combat falsified products.
She expressed concern that counterfeiters have adopted increasingly sophisticated methods to advance their trade but assured that NAFDAC “is poised to use technologies and modern means to mitigate the activities of counterfeiters, hence the need for stakeholder sensitisation.”
She added that the workshop aims to educate stakeholders and provide hands-on training on the NAFDAC Greenbook, the Traceability Regulation 2024, and the Paediatric Regulation 2024, ensuring that both the regulator and the regulated are aligned in the fight against substandard and falsified medical products.
On the NAFDAC’s Pharmaceutical Products (Traceability) Regulations, 2024, Prof. Adeyeye explained that it “provides a legal framework for drugs and related product trade items manufactured, imported, exported, advertised, sold, distributed, or used in Nigeria to be identified with a unique identifier created by the brand owner, enabling visibility and tracking of the product along the supply chain.”
She highlighted that Nigeria is the first country in Africa to implement this technology and the second leading country in the world to do so.
Prof. Adeyeye revealed that the project is being implemented in phases, initially used for COVID-19 vaccine distribution as a pilot project, which yielded highly effective results. She noted, “Within 24 hours, batches of substandard or defective vaccines distributed in the country were traced and recalled.”
She further stated, “We have implemented it for commodities in public health, such as antimalarial and narcotic products. Over time, we will extend it to other products. Please note that with this technology, stakeholders can detect and reject SF products before they enter the supply chain.”
She called on all stakeholders in the healthcare sector to support these initiatives to combat fake products and ensure the availability of quality, safe, and efficacious medical products for the people of Nigeria.
NAFDAC goes digital in fight against fake pharmaceutical products
