For the first time, some countries around the world may suffer acute shortage in supply of medicine as big pharmaceutical companies in china slow down the production and export of drugs and essential clinical materials in order to ensure self sufficiency for its people.
The initial alarm came from the national agency for food, drug administration and control, NAFDAC warning that if the coronavirus continues, local pharmacies may soon run out of supplies.
The coronavirus outbreak in China could just be a solution to many of the challenges facing the pharmaceutical industries in Nigeria.
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The outbreak has led to the shut down of production factories and shipment of active and non-active ingredients to different countries including Nigeria, this is so because china happens to be the biggest manufacturer of a wide range of pharmaceuticals in the world.
There are also fresh fears that the pressure of global demand on european and american pharmaceutical companies may result in high prices of medicines and supply may even dry up at some point as countries battle to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
The situation has exposed a looming crisis because nigeria depends on import for 70 percent of its active and non active ingredients, a situation that left the nafdac director-general, moji adeyeye fuming.
Her statement did not only exposed the weak pharmaceutical industry in the country and how impossible it would be to meet the drug demand of the estimated 200 million nigerians.
It also goes against the national drug policy of 2005 (as amended) which stipulates that 70 percent of drugs consumed in the country should be produced locally while 30 percent is imported.
Deliberate policies at backward integration have not been implemented with importers of pharmaceuticals not tasked enough to look inwards
The director-general, national institute of pharmaceutical research, Obi adigwe says local production companies in Nigeria have remained under-utilised.
Many say the nigeria government needs to prioritise local pharmaceutical companies, instead of making the country a dumping ground.
For the chairman pharmaceutical society of nigeria, the challenges in the industry are as a result of greed from those in authority.
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He noted that the only way to meet up with demand is to create an enabling environment for local pharmaceuticals to thrive
With the coronavirus pandemic seemingly defying all efforts at containment at the moment, perhaps this is just the right time to fully integrate and implement policies that will ensure nigeria ramps up its local production capacity above the current 30 percent which currently can not even be sustained.
