The Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) has commenced licensing individuals and facilities selling medicines through social media and other online platforms as part of efforts to regulate the fast-growing trend of internet-based drug sales.
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PCN Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, Ibrahim Ahmed, announced this on Wednesday in Abuja, noting that the practice surged during the COVID-19 pandemic and has persisted since.
Ahmed said the PCN Establishment Act 2022 anticipated the need to regulate electronic pharmacy practices and online medicine sales.
“I can tell you, we have commenced the licensing of facilities involved in the sale of medicines,” he stated.
The PCN boss explained that enforcement mechanisms have been put in place to tackle the unique challenges of borderless digital platforms.
According to him, many online drug vendors operate without physical locations and are not restricted by national boundaries.
“We recognised that this is a global issue, and for enforcement, we had to engage Interpol, which has the capacity to bring down any website in 194 countries,” he said, adding that the council had already taken down one such platform in collaboration with the global police organisation.
Ahmed stressed the importance of IT expertise in inspecting online pharmaceutical facilities.
“Often, what you see on the front end of a website may differ from the back end. That’s why we involve IT experts during inspections to ensure compliance,” he explained, noting that a platform’s backend must be examined and supervised by a pharmacist before a licence is issued.
The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, said her agency’s work complements that of the Pharmacy Council.
She recalled that NAFDAC began licensing online drug vendors two years ago and disclosed that about 18 months ago, the agency received intelligence on a falsified anti-cancer drug being sold online.
“We traced it to the southern part of the country and made an arrest, thanks to our intelligence efforts,” Adeyeye said.
She added that NAFDAC will in September hold a training session for its staff on the use of new technology to track and trace internet-based drug sales.
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