INDIAN GOVERNMENT NEGOTIATES WITH NIGERIAN DRUG AGENCY OVER BLACKLISTED COMPANIES

The Indian government is to negotiate over the ban imposed by Nigeria on 11 Indian drugmakers. Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) blacklisted the Indian companies in March 2005, for allegedly supplying counterfeit drugs.

Indian officials allege that the agency did not go through the proper procedures when banning the companies. Also, they complain that NAFDAC has published details of the affected exporters on their website, thus potentially harming access to other African markets.

Previously, an eleven-member delegation was sent from India to discuss the issue with the Nigerian authorities. The delegation stressed the measures undertaken in India to ensure the quality of drug exports, and as a result some of the blacklisted companies were permitted to continue trading until December 2005. However, the ban was not lifted.

NAFDAC is presently prosecuting more than 70 cases in the country relating to counterfeit pharmaceuticals, and so it could be some time before any progress on the Indian case is made. The agency is clamping down hard on the trade in fake medicines, which account for approximately 68% of the drug market in Nigeria. NAFDAC recently destroyed NGN300mn (US$2.34mn) worth of fake drugs in the country seized from importers, pharmacies and hospitals.