NAFDAC rolls out TruScan in 30 Nigerian states

Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has said it is now using Thermo Scientific's TruScan counterfeit detection technology in 30 states across the country.

Deployment of the product began in 2010 as part a push by the agency  to screen border points, pharmacies and other retail outlets for counterfeit drugs.

"NAFDAC has also been able to identify that antimalarial and antibiotic drugs are some of the most highly counterfeited products. The TruScan has been fed with about 150 signatures of different kinds of products," said NAFDAC in a statement.

Use of the technology helped NAFDAC confirm the drugs supplied to a community were fake. The community bought drugs from a supplier who visited in a van. After using TruScan on the drugs NAFDAC advised the community to stop buying from the supplier.

TruScan is also in use in other African countries. In March, Pfizer donated scanners to Kenyan and Ghanaian regulators to help tackle the spread of fake pharmaceuticals in both countries.