Firm Charges FG on Policy Consistency to Moderate Prices of Pharmaceuticals

Sunday Okobi

Nigerian pharmaceuticals company, May and Baker Nigeria, has charged the federal government to ensure consistency of its policies in the pharmaceutical sector to moderate the prices of drugs in the Nigerian market.

This was communicated by the company’s Managing Director, Mr. Patrick Ajah, on the sidelines of a walk to mark the World Hypertension Day which was held at the weekend.

Ajah opined that the devaluation of the naira places a huge strain on procurement of raw materials needed for production as many of these items are sourced abroad. Hence, he stated that while government policies such as the pooled procurement for pharmaceutical products and the executive order waiving duty on import of raw materials are welcome, these initiatives need to be sustained to make for affordability of drugs within the country.

According to him, “It costs money to produce these drugs. When you make us come down on price, it means we are compromising our profit. Many companies have collapsed in recent times and it’s not good. We need to increase capacity for local companies to take care of our people instead of depending on foreign companies but if you do not encourage local companies, it is not going to work.”

“Most companies were going to take another price increase this year. The FX is driving a whole lot of it. But because of these government policies, most of us have slowed down on taking price increases despite the fact that the FX has gone up. As these policies come into effect, most companies are glad to pass on that cost reduction to consumers.”

“The pooled procurement and the executive order waiving duty on import of raw materials for local producers is fantastic and it needs to be continued. These initiatives are very important and it needs to be consistent. We need assurance that the government is going to support us.”

Speaking on the subject of blood pressure awareness, he noted that many Nigerians are unaware of their status and increased advocacy is needed to enlighten the public. He, however, noted that beyond knowledge, current economic realities presents a challenge as many Nigerians may not be able to afford the original foreign medication for hypertension.

He stated that local companies are stepping up to the task by manufacturing more affordable products for hypertension which Nigerians can take advantage of.

“Increase in a condition (hypertension) is one thing, affordability is another. Most of the original products for managing hypertension were developed by multi-national companies. Many people cannot afford those drugs now.”

“Companies like May and Baker are helping to bridge the gap by producing some of these medications at prices that are affordable to Nigerians but I must say, that with the recent devaluation of our currency, it is really very difficult for people to afford these medications because anybody who has been put on hypertensive drugs may be on it for life,” Ajah stated.