National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has announced the delisting of 101 medicines and health products from circulation in Nigeria.
Gatekeepers News reports that in a statement issued on Tuesday, the agency said the affected products are no longer permitted for manufacturing, importation, exportation, distribution, advertisement, sale, or use in the country.
According to NAFDAC, the action followed requests by some market authorisation holders to withdraw their products, while others were either suspended or cancelled by the agency.
The agency explained that a suspension occurs when the conditions under which a registration licence was issued are no longer met, while a cancellation takes effect when NAFDAC revokes a product’s licence.
“This is to inform the General Public that the following products are approved for withdrawal, suspension and cancellation by NAFDAC,” the statement read.
“They are therefore no longer permitted for manufacture, importation, exportation, distribution, advertisement, sale and use within Nigeria. Please note that the certificate of registration of a product is said to be withdrawn when the use of the Certificate of Registration of that product is discontinued upon request of the Market Authorization Holder.”
The delisted items cut across a broad range of medicines and health products, including antimalarials (various artemether/lumefantrine formulations), cough treatments, vaccines (such as Cryomarex Rispens HVT), insulin and growth-hormone injectables (Norditropin), diabetes drugs (Januvia/Janumet), inhalers, and eye drops.
Some popular products are also on the list, such as Flagyl suspension and tablets, commonly used to treat diarrhoea; Penicillin G Sodium Sandoz powder, prescribed for bacterial infections; Artemether/Lumefantrine, an antimalarial; and Elisca eye drops, used for eye infections.
