Nigerian authorities shut three cough syrup manufacturers
Nigeria's authorities have shut down
three leading drugs companies after a BBC investigation into addiction
to cough syrup containing codeine.
The National Agency for Food
and Drug Administration and Control (Nafdac) said it shut the firms for
failing to fully co-operate with its inspectors.
The companies have not yet commented.
The
BBC investigation showed that the syrup was being sold on the black
market, and was being used by young Nigerians to get high.
It recorded figures in the pharmaceutical industry selling the drug illegally.
Nafdac
director Mojisola Adeyeye said in statement that Peace Standard
Pharmaceuticals, Bioraj Pharmaceuticals and Emzor Pharmaceuticals were
shut because of "apparent resistance to provide needed documents during
our inspection".
The firms could reopen at a later date, depending
on "the level of co-operation that is shown during the comprehensive
investigation" by Nafdac, the statement added.
The agency banned the production and import of cough syrup containing codeine on 1 May.
The ban came the day after the BBC's undercover team caught one executive for Emzor Pharmaceuticals boasting he could sell "one million cartons" in a week on the black market.
Emzor denied links to the black market and said it had dismissed the employee and launched a full investigation.
Bioraj
Pharmaceuticals also denied any wrongdoing, saying it only sold cough
syrup legally and said it had suspended an employee and launched an
investigation.
Peace Standard Pharmaceuticals denied that its
pharmacist showed undercover BBC reporters how to subvert the system and
insisted it only supply accredited outlets.
The addictive cough
syrup was legal, but it was against the law to sell it to people without
a doctor's prescription or those who did not have a pharmaceutical
licence.
The Nigerian Senate estimates that as many as three
million bottles of codeine syrup are drunk every single day in just two
states, Kano and Jigawa.
BBC
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