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The National Agency for Food and Drug
Administration Control (NAFDAC) Tuesday, said there were no ‘killer’ on
anti-malarial medicines in Nigeria.
Dismissing fears of circulation of purportedly
banned 42 antimalarial drugs in the country, at a press conference in Lagos,
Acting Director -General, NAFDAC, Dr Yetunde Oni, urged Nigerians to disregard
such misinformation.
Briefing the media in Lagos, Oni said Artemisinin
Combination Therapies (ACTs) are the current anti-malaria medicine used in
malaria epidemic countries like Nigeria.
The Director General, however stated that these
antimalarial monotherapies are not recommended for treatment of malaria in
Nigeria.
“The recommended anti-malaria medicines for
treatment of malaria in Nigeria are Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs).
“The Nigeria National Anti-Malaria Treatment
Policy, February 2005 also supports the use of ACTs,” Oni said. According to
her, any anti-malaria drugs that do not have the scratch and text techniques
should not be in circulation.
“Every anti-malaria drug should have an
authentication scratch and text techniques, it is the first line of checking
the quality of the medicine.
“We want to douse the tension and correct the misinformation
on the social and mainstream media about the 42 Anti-Malarial medicines
purportedly banned by the European Union but allegedly circulating in the
country.
“It is pertinent to mention that the allegedly
banned anti-malarial medicines are oral monotherapies containing single Active
Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) such as Artesunate as contained in Arinate
tablet.
“Others are Amodiaquine as contained in Camoquine,
Dihydroartemisinin contained in Alaxin tablet and Pyrimethamine contained in
Daraprim tablet.”
She advised Nigerians to use ACTs as they were the
WHO’s recommended anti-malarials.
“I wish to state categorically that these
anti-malarial monotherapies are not recommended for treatment of malaria in
Nigeria.
“The use of ACTs in the treatment of malaria is in
line with the guidelines for the treatment of malaria, third edition, World
Health Organisation(WHO) 2015, Geneva Switzerland.
“The Nigeria National Anti-Malarial Treatment
Ploicy, February 2005 supports the use of ACTs. Sulphadoxine Pyrimethamine (SP)
is also a combination anti-malarial medicine recommended by both the WHO and
the Nigeria National Anti-Malarial Treatment Policy for the Intermittent
Preventive Treatment (IPT) of malaria,” Oni said.
Continuing Oni who advised Nigerians to reject
oral monotherapies containing single Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, also
added that anti-malaria drug that do not have the scratch and text techniques
should not be in circulation.
“Every anti-malaria drug should have an
authentication scratch and text techniques, it is the first line of checking
the quality of the medicine.
“When you scratch and text; immediately an
information comes back to give the status of that particular anti-malarial. We
have been able to achieve our deadline on this scratch and text since January
2017.
She further announced that NAFDAC will be
deploying a new application in the market that will enable users of NAFDAC
registered products to be able to check the status of the products on their
phones.
“Nigerians should always demand for ACTS which is
the recommended treatment for malaria.”
On the issue of chloroquine, Director of
Registration, Mrs Titilope Owolabi explained that Chloroquine was no longer
use for malaria but was registered by NAFDAC for other indications.
