The Nigerian Pure Drugs Growth Company (NNMDA) is striving to scale back Nigeria’s reliance on imported prescription drugs by selling the event and use of native pure medicines.
This initiative is aimed toward guaranteeing self-sufficiency in healthcare and addressing important well being challenges corresponding to cholera, antimicrobial resistance, and different ailments that proceed to burden the nation.
Talking on the company’s end-of-year media engagement just lately in Lagos, director-general of NNMDA, Prof. Martins Emeje, highlighted the company’s ongoing efforts to harness Nigeria’s huge pure assets in offering efficient healthcare options.
He emphasised the necessity for sustained concentrate on indigenous drugs as a strategy to scale back the nation’s dependency on overseas medication and enhance native financial progress.
Dr. Martins stated the NNMDA has made notable progress in growing indigenous oral medicines to fight ailments corresponding to cholera and sickle cell anaemia. The company can also be at a complicated stage of in search of approval from the Nationwide Company for Meals and Drug Administration and Management (NAFDAC) to start mass manufacturing of those pure treatments, he stated.
“By leveraging our pure assets, we are able to considerably scale back our dependence on imported medication, which frequently come at excessive prices and with adversarial unintended effects. Our aim is to construct a self-sufficient well being system that depends on domestically sourced and scientifically validated options,” Prof. Emeje defined.
The company can also be growing a nationwide database of conventional drugs practitioners to assist combine indigenous information into Nigeria’s broader healthcare system. Prof. Emeje burdened the significance of capability constructing, citing that, underneath his management, the company has began coaching professionals to conduct analysis and contribute to the expansion of the pure drugs sector.
The DG underscored the potential of mixing indigenous information with fashionable science, notably by means of using nanotechnology in growing natural merchandise. “Pure drugs provides holistic options as a result of crops naturally comprise bioactive compounds that may work synergistically to deal with ailments. Not like typical medicines, they don’t have the identical unintended effects and are extra aligned with the environment,” he stated.
NNMDA’s dedication to innovation has garnered worldwide recognition, together with a four-year analysis grant from the Canadian Institute for Well being Analysis.
The company has additionally fashioned partnerships with 16 Nigerian medical professors to advance analysis and growth in pure drugs. This collaboration is predicted to raise Nigeria’s international standing within the discipline of indigenous healthcare options.
Looking forward to 2025, the DG stated NNMDA plans to accentuate its efforts to create analysis farms throughout Nigeria’s 774 Native Authorities Areas and additional develop the Cassava Worth Addition Initiative (CVAI), a undertaking supported by the Nationwide Meeting.
Additionally, he stated the company is about to ascertain a Pilot Plant to transition laboratory analysis into industrial manufacturing, guaranteeing that discoveries in pure drugs might be scaled for mass manufacturing
Prof. Emeje reiterated NNMDA’s imaginative and prescient to create sustainable healthcare options by harmonizing conventional information with fashionable science.
He additionally known as for higher collaboration from stakeholders and the media to assist the company’s efforts in decreasing Nigeria’s dependency on imported prescription drugs, marking a brand new period for the nation’s healthcare system.
As a part of the occasion, NNMDA additionally launched the “Journalists for Pure Drugs” (JONAMED), a coalition aimed toward selling the advantages of pure drugs by means of media engagement, additional cementing the company’s function in main Nigeria towards self-reliance in healthcare.
