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 The most counterfeited are drugs for anti-malaria, pain and
antibiotics, according to the National Agency for Food and Drug
Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
To fight the flood of fake pills, the agency, in partnership with
the startups has created stickers with unique codes that
manufacturers and distributors can attach to boxes and sachets of
pills. Consumers can then use apps on their phones to scan the code
and confirm their authenticity.
Lagos-based Chekkit Technologies' mobile app allows patients to
check authenticity and enables manufacturers to see the number of
new customers using their products.
"They've (manufacturers) also been able to discover things like side
effects, potential side effects their product could have on
consumers based on what people say about their product," the
company's founder Dare Odumade told Reuters.
NAFDAC's director of investigation and enforcement directorate
Kingsley Ejiofor said the agency had in the past three years seized
2 trillion naira ($4.8 billion) worth of counterfeit drugs.
He said tracking apps were boosting the confidence of consumers.
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 "We currently have about 200
containers of counterfeit medicine at the ports
scheduled for destruction. Just imagine the
people that could have died as a result of use
of such products," Ejiofor said, adding that
China and India were the major sources of the
fake medicines.
At Sproxil Africa, a mobile authentication firm,
Managing Director Chinedum Chijioke said the
company's app empowered users to validate the
authenticity of products they were purchasing.
Biofem Industries imports pharmaceutical
products and uses Sproxil technology, which has
helped create more visible supply chain for its
drugs and other fast-moving consumer goods, said
Chief Executive Officer Femi Soremekun.
($1 = 413.4400 naira)
(Additional reporting by Fikayo Owoeye; Writing
by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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