The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has revealed plans to boost local manufacturing of drugs and vaccines through collaboration with the federal government and refineries such as the Dangote refinery.
The collaboration according to the President of PSN, Prof. Cyril Usifoh, is to convert petrochemicals into Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) used in the production of drugs.
Speaking Friday during a press briefing ahead of his inauguration and investiture of 112 fellows in Abuja on February 10, Usifoh emphasised the need to boost local capacity for manufacturing of essential medicines, including vaccines, while ensuring the availability of medicines that cannot be manufactured by the local industry for the health system.
“We have to get the government to realise that it is important to make oil refineries to produce petrochemicals needed as APIs in the production of drugs. When we have the basic APIs, we can start producing a larger percentage of these drugs locally.
“We plan to pay an advocacy visit to Dangote refinery, to ensure that he puts in place the technology to produce APIs for the production of drugs, to reduce the importation of the ingredients into the country,” he stated.
