Why drugs are expensive in Nigeria – Pharm. Popoola
July, 2008, Pharmanews.

Pharm. Ade Popoola is the president of Nigerian Representatives of Overseas Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (NIROPHARM), and managing director of Reals Pharmaceuticals. In this exclusive interview with Pharmanews recently during a dinner organised by NIROPHARM and held at Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja, Lagos,  he spoke on why drugs are more expensive in Nigeria than even in other West African countries, and how this anomaly can be corrected. He also spoke on the objectives, challenges and long-term goals of NIROPHARM and how the body is positioned to play greater role in the pharmaceutical sector in Nigeria.
Excerpts:
PN:What informed the decision of the foundation members to establish NIROPHARM?
Pharm P: We realise that there is a need for a voice for the multinational companies that have marketing structures in Nigeria.  We know that those that have manufacturing facilities have a voice through the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN).  We thus realised that there seemed to be nobody that looked into the interest of the multinational affiliates in Nigeria.  We, therefore, decided to come together to talk and discuss our problems which obviously are similar, and try to find a common front to tackle the problems.  That was the vision of establishing NIROPHARM.
PN:What were your short and long term objectives at the inception of the organisation?  Are these objectives being achieved?
Pharm P:I will say the objectives are being achieved.  One of the objectives was that we wanted to organise ourselves so that we can speak with one voice.  We also wanted to share our problems and resolve them.  And number three, we want to put our voice together and self regulate our operations.  NAFDAC also demanded that you have to belong to one or two trade groups if you are in the industry.  The agency demanded for self regulation. We thus decided to come together because we know ourselves.  We know what each person can do and we can easily point and talk to those who are not doing it right.
PN:What are the challenges facing NIROPHARM and how can they be surmounted?
Pharm P:Challenges in business come on a daily basis.  One of the key challenges that face this kind of group, especially our members, is what I call cloning of our products.  We are the representative of multinationals and you find out that the products that are being cloned and counterfeited are mainly the products of multinationals that are successful locally.  Therefore, by coming together, we are able to share information on how to tackle all these counterfeiters and reveal their secret to the regulatory agencies.
PN:Where do you want to see this association in the next five years?
Pharm P:In the next five to ten years, I want to see a NIROPHARM that will be as strong as PMG-MAN, if not stronger.  This will enable us to also influence policies that affect pharmaceutical business in Nigeria.  This is very important because that is what other groups do.
PN:A lot has been said about the cost of drugs.  I’ve heard it said at different forums that drugs/medicines in Nigeria are much more expensive even when compared with other West African countries.  As stakeholder in this business, is this true, and if it is true, what can be done to change this unacceptable situation?
Pharm P:This is a very good question that is very relevant, especially because of the state of things in this business environement. Drugs in Nigeria are very expensive because cost of doing business in Nigeria is high.  Even in your office, if you run generator everyday, you will realise that at the rate diesel goes for, whatever you sell will be very expensive.
Pharmaceuticals are thus expensive because in some West African countries they don’t have this problem we have.  Also, there are no import duties on drugs in some of these countries and in Nigeria you have to pay import duties.  In some West African countries, there are very few layers of security agencies to deal with that take one money or the other in the name of protecting the country.  In Nigeria, we have to deal with many security agencies. All these add up to the cost of drugs.  This is because when your cost is high, you have to pass it on to the consumer.  That is the only way you can stay in business.
PN:How do we deal with this problem and make drugs less expensive?
Pharm P:The number one thing I think should be done is that pharmaceuticals should have just five per cent duty. If this is done, it means the common men on the street have gained about 20 per cent.  If you pay 20 per cent duty, you still have to pay another 7 per cent of the duty as cost of charge.  Therefore, if government can reduce the duty paid on pharmaceuticals to just five per cent, it would help tremendously.
Number two, we have to encourage more local manufacturers and local manufacturing.  But even if you encourage local manufacturing and the cost of diesel, labour etc is very high, you will still have high cost of production and high cost of drugs.  So, a lot has to be done to create the enabling environment that will make this possible.
PN:There is another association that seems to have a similar objective to that of NIROPHARM.  That is the Association of Pharmaceutical Importers of Nigeria (APIN).  Are you in competition or are your activities complementary?  What do you have in common?
Pharm P:I will rather say we are complementary. We are not antagonistic to them.  This s because they are also an association of those that import pharmaceuticals from different parts of the world.  The only difference is that we have affiliates and they source their products from China, India, etc and they own their brands.  But for us, most of the time, the brand belongs to the multinationals who control everything we do.
PN:You earlier said local manufacturing should be encouraged.  Are you encouraging NIROPHARM members to go into local pharmaceutical production?
Pharm P:Number one reason we organised this business and networking dinner is that we want to empower ourselves.  That is why we have invited an expert in the stock exchange to come and talk to us about how we can do this.  You can’t go into local production without empowerment.  Local pharmaceuticals production is very costly.  It entails you having money or the right partnership to get it right.  So, what we are doing is to try and see how we can raise money from the capital market for NIROPHARM members. It is when we are able to do this that you can go into something that is more productive that will bring in the profit.  That is the main reason we organised this programme.