The Nigerian Association of Pharmacists and Pharmaceutical Scientists in the Americas (NAPPSA) Inc. has expressed concerns over the amount of misinformation about the COVID-19 disease, and the activities of some unscrupulous companies/people taking advantage of the pandemic to sell unproven and illegal COVID-19 prevention and treatment options.
NAPPSA warned that the dire consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria may take a more frightening turn, if the country does not join the global effort to curtail the trend.
These fears were articulated in a recent release by NAPPSA, titled “Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Update,” signed by the association’s president, Dr. Anthony Ikeme, and the secretary Dr. Aloysius Ibe, respectively.
NAPPSA, which was founded about 14 years ago, represents over 7,000 pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists, pharmaceutical educators of Nigerian origin living in the United States and Canada.
“It is extremely important for everyone to know that some people and companies are trying to profit from this pandemic by selling unproven and illegally marketed products that make false claims, such as being effective against the coronavirus.”
According to the association, “Fraudulent COVID-19 products can come in many varieties, including dietary supplements and other foods, as well as products claiming to be tests, drugs, medical devices, or vaccines.”
The association said these are trying times when people and nations are desperately searching for solutions against a strange disease, which makes it easy for these unconscionable characters to take advantage of people’s fears.
Thus, urged the Nigerian authorities and regulatory agencies such as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to closely monitor the market to ensure people’s miseries are not further compounded through exposure to dangerous substances marketed as palliatives.
They also urge them to ramp up public education campaigns to counter the misinformation about the virus that undermines the effort to contain the pandemic.
The body said the warning becomes necessary considering the fact that some of these fraudulent COVID-19 products and misinformation are promoted by healthcare professionals. “As of now, there is no single approved product to either prevent or treat COVID-19 but rather that there has been promising off-label uses of existing drugs, including; chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir, sarilumab, lopinavir +ritonavir, baloxavir, oseltamivir, tocilizumab, and sirolimus, that still requires further investigations and clinical trials to determine their efficacy.
“Clinical studies are underway all over the world to determine the efficacy in using hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat COVID-19.”
According to NAPPSA, there is a need for “responsible dissemination of information” about the global collaborative effort to contain COVID-19. As such, the association promised to continue giving regular updates on these efforts as well as collaborate with healthcare professionals in Nigeria, and regulators like NAFDAC to fight the scourge in the country and ensure it does not overwhelm the healthcare services as witnessed in other countries.