In its determination to ensure that the standard of drugs are maintained, even after they are given registration approval, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), on Wednesday, paid unscheduled visit to various pharmacies and patent stores across Makurdi, in Benue state.

The exercise, which the agency said was aimed at keeping it abreast of what happened at the drug stores, led to the discovery and impounding of several drugs from various shops believed to be fake and counterfeit.

The director, Ports Inspections Directorate of NAFDAC, Mr Segiru Momodu, who briefed reporters after the exercise, said the agency employed TRUSCAN, a drug sensitive device, to detect the fake drugs and also protect the consumers.

Some of the drugs included Artesunat, Fansidar, Amalar, Lonart, Ampiclox, Lexotan, Ciprotab 500, Maloxine, Zinnat, Parace-tamol, among others.

According to him, the agency was committed to ensuring Nigeria was sanitised from fake drugs, some of which found their way into the country through the collaboration of some unscrupulous local businessmen with their foreign manufacturers.

He said some of the counterfeit drugs, which were confiscated in the shops, were manufactured in China.

Owners of the shop where the suspected fake drugs were detected were invited to NAFDAC office in Makurdi, for further interrogation and directives.

A particular drug product that failed the test at the various shops visited was Ciprotab 500.

Also, in the course of the exercise, it was discovered that a donated drug product by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), oral rehydration salt, was on sale at some shops.

The NAFDAC director frowned on the development, saying that they were not supposed to be sold at private outlets.

Momodu restated the commitment of the agency to carrying out random checks on pharmacy shops and patent medicine stores, as part of the fight against the menace of fake and substandard drugs in Nigeria.

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