The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has announced the withdrawal, suspension, and cancellation of 101 pharmaceutical products with immediate effect.
The decision was contained in a statement posted on the agency’s official X handle on Tuesday. According to NAFDAC, the affected products “are therefore no longer permitted for manufacture, importation, exportation, distribution, advertisement, sale, or use within Nigeria.”
The agency advised the public to consult its website for the full list of affected medicines.
Checks revealed that the discontinued products include widely used drugs such as Abacavir and Amlodipine. The list also features a broad range of medicines and health products, including antimalarials (various artemether/lumefantrine formulations), cardiovascular drugs (valsartan-based products), insulin and growth hormone injectables (such as Norditropin), diabetes medications (Januvia and Janumet), inhalers, and eye drops.
The move comes amid increasing global concern over counterfeit and substandard medicines. According to a 2023 World Health Organisation report, up to 10 per cent of medicines in low- and middle-income countries are falsified or of poor quality.
NAFDAC explained that the sanctions were due to various factors, including licensing issues and voluntary withdrawal by market authorisation holders.
The agency clarified the three categories of regulatory action:
- A product’s Certificate of Registration is withdrawn when the market authorisation holder requests to discontinue its use.
- It is suspended when the conditions under which the registration licence was issued are no longer met, pending a final determination by NAFDAC.
- It is cancelled when NAFDAC revokes the registration licence outright.
The agency reiterated its commitment to safeguarding public health and urged healthcare providers, pharmacists, and the public to immediately stop the use and distribution of any products on the withdrawn list.
