.To begin risk-based sampling, testing for food
National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) will begin to digitise the registration numbers on food, drugs, cosmetics and other products, to stem falsification.
The agency is investigating Coco Samba bitters, which the Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone found to contain 193 mg of Sildenafil (far above the recommended dose).
Director-General of NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, who disclosed while responding to inquiries by The Guardian, yesterday, in Abuja, explained that there were possibilities the Sildenafil was most probably added after approval of the bitters or that NAFDAC number for another product might have been used.
According to her, the agency conducts risk-based sampling and testing for drugs yearly, focusing on select products based on different factors, and will start the same for food, which is the category that bitters fall.
It is taxing, Adeyeye stated, to see how devilish some people are in an effort to make money. “It is a reflection of the state of the country, but NAFDAC has to do what it needs to do as a regulator.
“I have forwarded it immediately to concerned team leaders. We are investigating. Yes, you are right about continuous monitoring. We shut down companies permanently, if it is a gross violation, or fine them heavily. If it goes to court, sometimes we don’t get the sentence that it deserves,” she added.
The Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone had, last week after analysis of Coco Samba, discovered that it contained a staggering 193mg of Sildenafil, which is almost twice the maximum recommended 100mg dose in 24 hours.
The board, thereby, warned its citizens against consumption of several herbal products found to contain high levels of Sildenafil Citrate, a prescription drug used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary arterial hypertension.
There were concerns about the devastating effect the product may have on the health of the users, if a single bitter drink that can be gulped once contains the high level of Sildenafil almost two times above the prescribed dose and considering that some people may take more than one.
