Pharmaceutical firms need loans, infrastructure to survive – Fidson CEO
Kasara Chukwuma, Lagos
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Fidson Healthcare Plc, Dr. Fidelis Ayebae has urged the federal government to support local pharmaceutical manufacturers with soft loan and basic infrastructure to boost drug production.
Ayebae who is also Chairman, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN), said government interventions and assistance were critical to increasing local production of essential medicines as well as achieving drug security.
Speaking at a press briefing in Lagos on the forthcoming Nigeria Pharma Manufacturers’ Expo 2019 (NPME 2019), Ayebae called on President Muhammadu Buhari to fulfil his promise of providing an enabling business environment for local pharmaceutical manufacturers.
“Fulfil your promise on security and support local manufacturers to remain productive. Provide us loan at a single digit to upgrade our facilities and also provide us infrastructure.
Infrastructure brings about development. The capacity is there to produce all essential drugs locally,” he said.
To achieve this, he called on the federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria to set up a N300 billion pharmaceutical expansion and export fund, asserting that the intervention fund if provided would help upgrade local factories, increase capacity among indigenous drug manufacturing companies, reduce drug importation and check the menace of fake drugs.
The forthcoming expo is billed to hold from August 28-29 in Lagos with the theme: “Strategic collaboration for medicine security, affordability and national sufficiency.”
According to the Fidson boss, the major objective of the expo is to create a platform for pharma machinery and equipment, raw and packaging materials, laboratory equipment, chemicals, and reagents manufacturers to meet and engage with the local pharma manufacturers and other stakeholders in West and Central African.
He added that the event is the biggest international pharma manufacturing exhibition in Central and West Africa known to attract close to 200 exhibiting companies from six countries and nearly 10, 000 pharma and related professionals from across the region.
