MeCure Industries Plc has launched a Track-and-trace solution to ensure product safety and elevate patient safety standards in Nigeria.
This solution is in response to the Nigerian pharmaceutical industry’s dual imperative to balance the accessibility of medicines and the growing threat of fake and counterfeit drugs in the market.
This tool plays a pivotal role in preventing counterfeit drugs from infiltrating the healthcare supply chain, posing risks such as incorrect ingredients, improper dosages, and harmful substances that can have severe health consequences.
The significance of the Track and Trace solution
- The Track & Trace Solution monitors and documents the entire journey of a pharmaceutical product, from manufacturing to the end-user.
- This comprehensive transparency ensures that every stage of the drug’s trajectory is traceable and verifiable, making MeCure Track & Trace-enabled brands virtually impossible to counterfeit.
- This solution not only amplifies supply chain management efficiency but also serves as a robust deterrent against the falsification of medicines.
- Any suspicious deviation or unauthorized alteration of product information triggers immediate intervention, curtailing the spread of counterfeit drugs and safeguarding unsuspecting consumers.
- Circulation of counterfeit drugs is a fatal and growing problem, especially in developing countries where supply chain security is limited.
- The Track & Trace Solution offers consumers the ability to authenticate each product with just a click on any smartphone.
This initiative fortifies the pharmaceutical supply chain but also fosters collaboration among various stakeholders, including manufacturers, distributors, and regulatory bodies, through shared access to standardized, traceable data systems.
What you should know
- According to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, substandard drugs kill 500,000 people in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Up to 267,000 of these deaths are linked to fake and counterfeit malaria medicines.
- Up to 169,271 deaths are linked to fake and counterfeit antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections in children.
- The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration Control has fought back with its recent alerts and recalls of medicines. Nairametrics reported a list of drugs recalled by the agency in 2023.
- The agency has also carried out market and industry investigations, busting major drug and beverage cartels involved in the manufacturing and distribution of fake and counterfeit medicines.
- Nairametrics reported that NAFDAC launched a database to identify certified drugs amidst an aggressive crackdown on fake and counterfeit drugs circulating the country.
