The National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Development and May and Baker Pharmaceutical Company will finalize arrangements on the 23rd of February for the sickle cell drug Niprisan, to be produced and marketed by the pharmaceutical firm
The Director-General of the institute, Prof. Karniyus Gamaniel, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Thursday that NIPRD would sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the company to grant it licence to produce and market the drug.
Prof. Gamaniel said that the partnership with the company would advance the current capacity of the institute to produce the drug as it could only produce one-third of the quantity needed by the consumers.
According to him, the agreement will prevent private distributors from putting a high price on the drug which will make it difficult for sickle cell sufferers to access it.
He said: “The licence to produce and distribute the drug was previously withdrawn from a pharmaceutical company, but now the Federal Government needs to re-commercialise it.
“Government is making efforts to do this because NIPRD does not have the full production capacity to produce Niprisan to adequately reach all those that need the drug.
He said the institute had continued to collaborate with Non-Governmental Organisations to help identify those with sickle cell anaemia and ensure they had access to the drug.
The director general said the drug was currently being sold by the institute for N3,000.
In 2015 the Federal Government stopped the commercialisation of the drug because of the prohibitive cost and withdrew the licence it granted a company to commercialise it because of the high cost of its product
http://thepharmacywatch.com/finally-federal-government-and-may-and-baker-partner-on-sickle-cell-niprisan/