Medicine insecurity and challenges in the medicine supply chain within Nigeria have been a long-standing problem in Nigeria’s healthcare system, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought the critical situation to full light.
The pharmaceutical sector in Nigeria cannot meet the enormous demand for medicines due to its poor local manufacturing capacity. Hence, Nigeria continues to rely almost entirely on other countries, especially in Asia, for the supply of its medicines and health products.
In Nigeria, the high cost of pharmaceutical manufacturing, lack of supportive infrastructure for the regulatory compliance of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies, poor regulatory policies, and limited access to affordable and reasonable funding are among the many factors responsible for the poor local pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in Nigeria, which have made it difficult for Nigeria’s pharmaceutical sector to compete globally and take part in global tenders.
Pharmacity is an intervention that brings in all key stakeholders, including the government, academia, professionals and private sector, to revolutionise indigenous drug manufacturing and reposition Nigeria
It is for this purpose that the (Nigeria’s premier pharmaceutical manufacturing park) was conceived. Bloom Public Health has continued to champion this project because we believe this is not only a way to tackle the existing challenges, but to revolutionise indigenous drug manufacturing.
What is Pharmacity?
Pharmacity refers to compact modern-day pharmaceutical industrial estates that bring together pharmaceutical companies of various sizes, service providers and companies providing support services to co-locate and share infrastructure.
This strategic pharmaceutical intervention strives to tackle Nigeria’s unmet needs for both demand and supply of medicines, by increasing Nigeria’s medicine and health product manufacturing capacity and enabling her to reach her full potential, while maintaining strict adherence to international standards.
The concept of Pharmacity
The concept of Pharmacity is to have multiple pharmaceutical manufacturing hubs in different locations within Nigeria, with a vision of creating a sustainable environment to make quality medicines available and affordable.
This will be achieved by establishing a synergy between all stakeholders, mobilising resources, advocating for creation of policies, and providing a support system for the development of state-of-the-art pharmaceutical industrial parks across Nigeria.
Each of the industrial parks will tilt towards different aspects of the pharmaceutical manufacturing value chain, such as manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and excipients, finished pharmaceutical products, research, and development, vaccines and biologics, etc.
Benefits of Pharmacity
Pharmacity holds many benefits for Nigeria’s pharmaceutical sector and the healthcare system. They include:
1. Reduction of the cost of production of medicine and health products, leading to better profit margins.
2. Creating opportunities for reduced bottlenecks in obtaining regulatory approval, as the park will host regulatory agencies.
3. Production of premium-grade health products that are easily accessible and affordable for the population.
4. Facilitating increased competitiveness of these products in the international market for export and improved foreign exchange earnings.
5. Creating a more resilient medicine supply chain that is less vulnerable to external shocks and other eventualities, thus ensuring medicine security and sustainability in the supply chain.
6. Economic development through creation of several job opportunities.
Stakeholder engagement: Who should be involved?
Pharmacity is an intervention that brings in all key stakeholders, including the government, academia, professionals and private sector, to revolutionise indigenous drug manufacturing and reposition Nigeria to benefit from freer trade on the continent while increasing exports.
Key stakeholders include Academia for research and development, Pharma manufacturers of all forms of medicines, Quality Control specialists, Regulatory agencies (NAFDAC, customs, PCN), Supply chain experts, warehousing operators, logistics and distribution companies, Donor agencies (AFDB, World Bank, USAID, Global Fund etc.), Private sector investors, support services (banks, schools, hotels, hospitals, etc.), and utility providers (mobile/internet service providers, water, waste treatment and disposable companies, power companies, etc.).
Read also: Drug revolving fund in Africa: A step towards health security
Achievements so far…
A major achievement has been the donation of 100 hectares of land by the Ebonyi State Government for the establishment of an industrial pharmaceutical manufacturing park. In Ebonyi State, Salt City Pharma Park Development Company Ltd (the Pharmacity industrial park name in Ebonyi) signed an infrastructure development agreement in 2021 with an infrastructure deployment company for infrastructure deployment.
Salt City Pharma Park Development Company Ltd is an SPV comprising The Association of Industrial Pharmacists of Nigeria (NAIP), Bloom Public Health, and the Ebonyi State Government.
Similarly, some other states are deploying for the establishment of industrial pharmaceutical manufacturing parks in their states. Bloom Public Health is committed to support these initiatives in order to tackle the current local supply gap and achieve medicine security in Nigeria and on the continent.
Conclusion
With the successful implementation of the Pharmacity project in the next five years, we expect that a minimum of 50% of pharmaceutical manufacturing will take place within Nigeria.
This holds a huge economic and development impact for Nigeria. As stated by the Registrar of the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN), Pharm. Elijah Mohammed, ”the establishment of a pharmaceutical park will create more jobs for Nigerians, serve as a security bait for us to secure our country and expand the economy”.
Professor Anyakora is the CEO of Bloom Public Health and a public health expert.
Odibeli is a pharmacist and the Research and Communications Coordinator at Bloom Public Health.
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