Pharmacists have called for the full implementation of the National Drug Distribution Guideline to strengthen Nigeria’s medicine supply chain and curb the circulation of falsified and substandard medicines.

They made the call at the fourth Thematic General Assembly of the African Pharmaceutical Distribution Association (APDA), organised in collaboration with the Pharmaceutical Wholesalers and Distributors Association of Nigeria (PWDAN) in Lagos, with the theme, “Advancing Pharmaceutical Distribution in Africa: Building secure supply chains against falsified medicines.”

PWDAN Chairman Ogheneochuko Omaruaye said poorly structured distribution systems remained a major challenge, stressing that distributors play a critical role in safeguarding the medicine supply chain.

He said PWDAN had continued to engage government and regulatory agencies, including the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN), on implementation of the guideline.

He said full implementation would ensure manufacturers and distributors are properly recognised and regulated while limiting the entry of unregulated players into the medicine supply system.

Omaruaye, however, said inadequate government resources remained a constraint, urging the government to revisit the guideline and provide the support required for its implementation.

He also called for government backing for distributors seeking to strengthen self-regulation, noting that pharmaceutical distribution covered medicines, medical devices and hospital consumables.

Vice President, Central Africa, APDA, Dr Yolande Djomo, said distributors across the continent faced similar challenges, including falsified medicines, informal markets, weak regulatory controls and inadequate supply-chain infrastructure.

She said the assembly provided an opportunity for distributors to exchange experiences and develop solutions to challenges affecting medicine distribution and public health.

Djomo said Nigeria, Cameroon and Congo faced similar problems with informal markets and infiltration of substandard and falsified medicines. She added that distributors were exploring artificial intelligence to improve efficiency and strengthen supply-chain security.

She identified Cameroon’s porous borders and more than 1,000-kilometre border network as factors facilitating the entry of substandard medicines, urging governments and regulators to strengthen border controls.

Director, Inspection, Monitoring and Quality Assurance Unit, Lagos, PCN, Solomon Shiihii, stressed that maintaining medicine quality after products leave manufacturers was equally important.

He said potency loss could occur silently but has serious consequences for patients, making compliance with Good Storage and Distribution Practice essential.

Shiihii called for continuous training and retraining of personnel, saying distributors needed adequate financial resources, competent staff and appropriate facilities to maintain quality systems.

He said warehouses should have designated areas for quarantined, approved, returned, expired, damaged and recalled products, warning that returned medicines must not be placed directly back into sellable stock.

He also stressed the need for quality management systems and standard operating procedures, while urging distributors to properly assess temperature excursions during transportation and storage to determine their impact on medicines.

Describing Nigeria as Africa’s largest pharmaceutical market, Shiihii said the position placed a major responsibility on the country to improve medicine access and distribution.

He identified open drug markets, overlapping regulatory mandates, price sensitivity, inadequate storage facilities in some public institutions and procurement challenges among factors affecting the pharmaceutical supply chain.

To address these challenges, he urged stakeholders to focus on practical implementation of good distribution practices, strengthen data systems and develop measurable performance indicators to monitor supply-chain outcomes.

Shiihii also called for greater government engagement, including possible support for capital-intensive infrastructure and tax relief where appropriate, given the role of a strong pharmaceutical supply chain in protecting public health.

Former Chairman of PWDAN and Director, Nemitt Pharmaceuticals Limited, Ernest Okafor, said stronger collaboration among regulators and industry stakeholders was essential to tackling falsified and adulterated medicines across Africa.

He said the cross-border nature of the problem required regulators and distributors to develop coordinated approaches to common challenges.

Okafor noted that Nigeria had strengthened regulation through stricter laws and penalties for those involved in falsified medicines. However, he said perpetrators were constantly developing new methods to evade controls, requiring regulators to continuously benchmark and strengthen their systems.