The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) recently visited Emzor Pharmaceutical Company’s ultra-modern Pharma Factory known as the Emzor Campus.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) compliant factory is sited on more than 60 hectares of land at the Shagamu Interchange of the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway and is the largest pharmaceutical facility in West Africa.
The factory is also (cGMP) compliant and has already manufactured and supplied millions of doses of medication ranging from anti-malarial, pediatric care, vitamins and anti-retrovirals to various international organisations through partnerships for public health intervention.
During the factory tour was led by NAFDAC’s Director General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye in company of the agency’s Director, Drug Registration and Regulatory Affairs (DRRA), Dr. Monica Eimunjeze; Director, Drug Evaluation & Research (DER), Mrs. Ijeoma Nwankwo, and the Special Adviser to the NAFDAC Director General, Gbenga Fajemirokun (SA-DG NAFDAC).
During the Executive Director — General Duties, Emzor, Mrs. Uzoma Ezeoke briefed the NAFDAC team on Emzor group’s progress from inception to date.
She said the company had grown from the days of drug sales and marketing to manufacturing for the local and African market to exportation to UK and Netherlands in Europe and the United States of America. This is in line with the Emzor group’s goal to be the number one name in pharmaceuticals on the African continent.
After the NAFDAC teams tour of the factory; the team addressed their host, the Emzor group.
Speaking on the factory, Adeyeye said: “I taught pharmaceutical manufacturing in the United States for 19 years and I usually would take my students to pharmaceutical companies as an extension of the class because I believe in experiential. Part of the training is the facility tour.
“This facility that we have seen today can stand beside any facility in the US. To see what Emzor is doing gladdens my heart and makes us know that we can do it.”
She commended the Emzor work force on their dedication and commitment to the vision of Dr. Stella Okoli for the pharmaceuticals industry in Nigeria as well as upholding the standards set by NAFDAC under the management’s new structure and standards in the last three years to regulate the pharmaceutical industry in line with global best practices regulatory bodies.
She particularly praised the Emzor groups consumer targeted production and Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) compliance.
She described Emzor as a trail blazer in the industry, even as she affirmed that the company had proven that anything was possible in Nigeria.
Eimunjeze also praised Emzor facility’s quality control and compliance with the NAFDAC regulations. She said she had postponed her visit times before, but was glad to make it to the factory.
She also praised Emzor’s youth workforce, saying the future of the industry was assured with the training the young generation were being exposed to at Emzor.
On her part, Nwankwo applauded the young workforce; the Vaccines and new Emzor API manufacturing Technology Transfer and licensing agreement with India’s Mangalam Drugs & Organic Limited to locally manufacture and distribute Active Pharmaceutical ingredients (4 API’s) for the treatment and prevention of malaria.
Fajemirokun also praised Okoli for the young workforce and said seeing some of his old students working on such world class premises was a pride.
In her remarks, Okoli thanked the NAFDAC team for taking the time out of their busy schedule to honor the Emzor family’s invitation to tour the WHO compliant facility. She reiterated that the Emzor group was committed to raising standards in the pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria and Africa.
Emzor is a privately owned indigenous pharmaceutical company founded in 1984 by Okoli. The company has grown into a legacy pharmaceutical company with four modern factories that manufacture over 140 world-class pharmaceutical products, such as analgesics (the widely used Emzor Paracetamol), vitamins, haematinics, anti-malarial, anti-tussive, antibiotics, antihelminthic, anti-histamine, antacid, and cardio-protective drugs.
Emzor has a network of over 120 distributors covering public and private institutions across West Africa. Emzor is the largest indigenous pharmaceutical manufacturer in the country with over 120 products, all NAFDAC approved.
