India and Nigeria have agreed to scale up joint awareness efforts in the African nation about the quality of Indian generic medicines and to launch a number of measures officially to streamline the pharma sector there, after the recent seizure of fake drugs with `made in India' labels but manufactured by Chinese companies.

A four-member Nigerian delegation led by Dr Paul Orhii, director general of National Agency for Food And Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), currently on a visit to India, has held extensive discussions in this regard with the government officials here. The visit was planned as a confidence building measure in the backdrop of Nigerian seizure of a consignment of fake anti-malarial and anti-bacterial medicines bearing 'Made in India' label. Investigations into the matter led to the disclosure that the origin of above referred consignment was China and not India.

The delegation had its initial meeting with the Indian side which was led by the pharma secretary Ashok Kumar. The meeting was attended by representatives of different departments including Ministry of Health, department of commerce, MEA, Pharmexcil, NIPER and FICCI.

While briefing the visiting delegation on the quality of Indian medicines, pharma secretary said India was ready to collaborate and cooperate with Nigeria in its anti-counterfeiting measures through capacity building in education, training and setting up testing facilities including bio-availability and bio-equivalence studies. Lack of proper control at the point of sale was also considered to contribute in the matter of counterfeit and spurious pharma trade.

Dr Paul Orhii, DG, NAFDAC expressed desire to augment the usage of Indian generic medicines in Nigeria considering their good quality, safety and efficacy coupled with lower prices. Dr Paul Orhii mentioned that problem of fake and counterfeit medicines is complex in Nigeria due to porous border and corrupt and criminal practices of some local elements.

According to the official sources, the Nigerian side was impressed by the quality of Indian generic, but lack of facility for assessing it in their country was a major problem leading to misconceptions. They also sought assistance from India to set up bio-equivalence and bio-availability facilities, training of drug regulatory personnel and improving curriculum of pharmacy education in Nigeria.

Both the sides agreed to have a joint awareness generation programmes in Nigeria to spread awareness about the quality generic medicines produced by Indian pharma industry. Both the sides agreed to continue the bilateral dialogue process and take initiative in the direction of collaboration in the field of regulatory, quality control and education arena.