NAFDAC addresses report of alleged insufficient paracetamol dosage

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) says the recent publication claiming that paracetamol medicines in Nigeria are underdosed is false.

“There is nothing wrong with our paracetamol. The publication is false and I am speaking from the perspective of a professor,” Mojisola Adeyeye, director-general of NAFDAC, said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday. in Abuja.

Ms Adeyeye said the publication did a disservice to Nigeria, adding that academic publications must be more responsive to public health issues.

A 2023 study involving samples of five paracetamol brands claiming to contain 500 mg of paracetamol as the active ingredient was said to have been tested and analyzed using the spectrophotometric method.

But paracetamol concentrations were reportedly found to range between 185 mg and 358 mg, which is less than the recommended 500 mg.

The study investigators expressed concern about the possibility of treatment failure due to an insufficient dose of paracetamol tablets.

Mrs. Adeyeye, however, stated that the results show that the said publication has been retracted.

The NAFDAC boss, who warned against playing with the intelligence of Nigerians, advised all Nigerians to use paracetamol.

“There is nothing wrong with our paracetamol. The post is false and I speak from the perspective of a professor,” he said.

She said that as a scientist, she proved the publication incorrect and the agency immediately ordered its staff to take samples.

“And when sampling is done, it is not done in one place. We use 36 math package RS2 software to know where to go and how many samples to take.

“So that statistically when the results come out it can be validated. So they went and took samples from Abuja and Lagos.

“But as scientists we did the test using an international standard, not a Nigerian university standard, not a Nigerian standard, not a West African standard,” he said.

He maintained that there is no laboratory in Nigeria that is better than that of NAFDAC, adding that the agency had been judicious in its financial management.

He added: “That laboratory where these products were tested this week is a WHO pre-qualified laboratory and we have been working on it for about six years.

“We achieved that in September 2023, the laboratory prequalified by WHO, only a few countries have such an achievement or laboratories have such an achievement in Africa.”

The NAFDAC chief said the agency was building a culture of quality in the industry and encouraging local production of food and medicine to enable more jobs and save foreign exchange. (YAYA)