Nigeria’s NAFDAC seizes falsified drug shipment

Nigeria’s drugs regulator has intercepted three trucks loaded with falsified and substandard medicines, and made five arrests.

The deputy director of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) – Dr Christiana Esenwah – revealed the seizure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Fake, adulterated, unregistered and improperly stored medicines were found in the trucks, which were stopped at Asaba on the Asaba-Onitsha highway after a tip-off.

The haul included the controlled opioid analgesic tramadol, GlaxoSmithKline’s Panadol Extra painkiller, Pfizer’s injectable contraceptive Depo-Provera injection, insulin products, and Dano tetanus vaccine and tetanus antitoxin.