The Minister of State for Health, Dr Tunji Alausa, has said that the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development can bridge the country’s pharmaceutical gap.
According to him, with NIPRD, the nation should not be battling counterfeit drugs.
Alausa, who made this known on Friday in Abuja when he visited the institute, said he was impressed with the facility after seeing what it could develop and produce.
“The institute just needs more clinical trials to get its products to the public for use and to unlock the value chain for people to begin to gain jobs.
“I am very impressed with the portfolio product and I have been working with the institute to see how we can quickly get some of these into clinical trials and then some of them into the market.
“We have discussed how we can begin to restructure the process as well as help design modular pharmaceutical plants that will begin to also produce some of the generic drugs that I think that the counterfeits are being imported into the country.
“Once we start producing drugs that we have certified and we can regulate, those plants will make the business of importation of counterfeit drugs financially unattractive.
The minister appealed to those into drug counterfeiters to stop the act, saying, “There are lots of legitimate businesses that can be done in this country. We have a population of 220 million people and that’s a big market. People can do a lot of legal things instead of bringing counterfeit drugs into the country.
“Government has a responsibility to fight back through legislation and also do things to protect the pharmaceutical industry to protect the health of the people.”
Speaking on the issue of budgetary allocation to the institute, he assured that the President is committed to not just increasing the budget for healthcare delivery, but to ensure that the budget is cash-backed.
According to him, going from 2024, the government is determined to cash back almost the entirety of the budgeted amount.
“So, hopefully, the budgetary allocation and cash release will get better and I’m going to be meeting with the Director-General again to see how we can get some research money from the Ministry of Health to support this institution,” he added.
The minister, however, gave the institute a mandate to begin a postdoctoral fellowship with 100 fellows, noting that with experience, and better and more training, the institute could be useful to the industry and the academic sector too.
He said, “So, we will start that in 2024 and we are also expanding our research ecosystem, we are trying to bring more international funding and grants into our system to expand and that’s also going to build our capacity.”
The Director-General, Dr Obi Adigwe, while updating the minister about the status of the institute, revealed that the institute developed the second NIPRD Strategic Plan 2021-2025.
He explained that the institute also developed and commercialised NIPRISAN, a drug for sickle cell which later metamorphosed into NICLOVIX.
Adigwe lamented that the research and development activities of the institute were limited by various factors that include lack of funding and working equipment, and low morale among staff.
The DG, appealed for support to help the institute reach its full capacity by ensuring that it got the needed support from the FG and other partners.
SOURCE:PUNCH