A market study, recently commissioned by the umbrella Pharmaceutical Industry Association, has confirmed the existence of unregulated medicines in the country.
The study, sponsored by the Kenya Association of Pharmaceutical Industry (KAPI) has confirmed eight per cent prevalence of unregulated or gray medicinal brands in the country.
The study undertaken among 160 practicing retailers with purchases for 543 products conducted in 326 retail outlets in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Meru.
While calling for an inter-agency management programme, KAPI has petitioned the Pharmacy and Poisons Board to consider enhancing its market surveillance activities, and fully utilize digital technologies to track shipments and identify gray products to ensure that all products available in the Kenyan market are regulated.
Speaking today at a Nairobi hotel, KAPI Chairperson Dr. Anastasia Nyalita that majority of the target medicines that had entered Kenya through an unofficial channel were found in Nairobi and Nakuru, and some of them in Mombasa and Kisumu.
“Such products unlike those imported through the official channels, pose grave danger to the patients using them as their efficacy and Quality remains questionable. KAPI is optimistic that these findings will serve as a basis for broad discussion among stakeholders, to further enhance the regulation, while raising awareness among the general public,” said Nyalita.
The research study conducted by the Principal Investigator Joel Lehmann from Infospective Research Limited also confirmed that among the sample size, the most affected was a product used to treat high blood pressure.
Further, the report established that the number of illicit and potentially dangerous pharmaceutical products seizures has now reached dramatic proportions, with almost 900 million counterfeit and illicit medicines seized at the borders of the Africa continent.
