Adeyeye, who was responding to viral reports on social media and online platforms that 70 percent of drugs in the country were fake or substandard, said plans were on the way to embark on a new study, which she believes would show that substandard drugs have been reduced to the minimum.

She said: “For essential medicine, it is much lower than the general medicine which is 17 percent. Just March this year, the study we did showed that only 1.3 percent of essential drugs in circulation were fake.

“In the general study we are planning, we will require at least 80 Truscans. And one Truscan cost at least $50,000. We will also do laboratory tests for further study.”

Truscan is a device used in ascertaining if medicines are authentic or fake.

Adeyeye said while she believes the country can be free from fake and substandard products, the country has the capacity to produce at least 70 percent of its medicines.

“I am a firm believer of local production of medicines. We are not there yet, but it is possible,” she said.

Source: Blueprint

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