NAFDAC to supervise clinical trial

The Nigerian Clinical Trial Technical Working Group guidelines and regulations will ensure “generation of credible scientific data that can be accepted internationally,” said the agency’s director-general Paul Orhii.“This will further lead to transparent and predictable processes that will attract a lot of international investment.”NAFDAC hopes a more robust clinical trial sector could turn Nigeria into […]

The Nigerian Clinical Trial Technical Working Group guidelines and regulations will ensure “generation of credible scientific data that can be accepted internationally,” said the agency’s director-general Paul Orhii.
“This will further lead to transparent and predictable processes that will attract a lot of international investment.”
NAFDAC hopes a more robust clinical trial sector could turn Nigeria into a hub for the industry in Africa by making protocols easier to follow by pharmaceutical firms wanting into recruit subjects for clinical trials.
Setbacks and murky challenges in clinical trials in Nigeria have pushed most of the business toward eastern and southern Africa, experts say.
But the controversy that’s trailed other trials and left subjects at the mercy of pharmaceutical products and firms has bred scepticism about them.
NAFDAC is looking to get the public to “think about participating in clinical research,” said Orhii.
“That way participants would not be looked at as scapegoats, but rather seen as contributing to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases.”
But it would advocate that participation be considered rather than encourage it, he added.
The drive toward booting clinical trials in Nigeria has been on for more than a decade, but having a working group is the “boldest step toward harnessing all past efforts and streamlining all the different moving parts in this evolving transformational phenomenon into measurable accomplishments for the clinical trial industry,” said Prof Ifeoma Okoye, who chairs the group.
The group will review issues impeding the growth of clinical research sector and recommend to NAFDAC how to promote growth.
The 30-member group comprises representatives from agencies relevant to clinical research–CDC, NMA, NIPRD, NAFDAC, FMOH, NACA, SON, NUC–and experts who have made significant marks in private research.