NEWS

Unlicensed Indian Drugs Spark Health Crisis in West Africa

Unlicensed Drugs from India Fuel a Public Health Emergency in West Africa

The production and illicit sale of highly addictive opioids to West Africa by Mumbai-based medicine producer Aveo Pharmaceuticals has been made public by an undercover BBC investigation, exacerbating a public health problem in nations like Ghana, Nigeria, and Côte d’Ivoire.

Aveo Pharmaceuticals is manufacturing and selling pills that contain the deadly combination of carisoprodol, a muscle relaxant that is prohibited in Europe because it is addictive, and tapentadol, a potent opioid. Nowhere in the world is this medication combo authorized for medical use. However, because of their accessibility and price, these chemicals are commonly used as street drugs throughout West Africa.

In several West African locations, packets of these medications bearing the Aveo logo were seen being sold in marketplaces and on the streets by BBC investigators. A BBC agent disguised themselves as a businessman and broke into Aveo’s plant in India to find out where they came from. The investigator used a covert camera to capture Vinod Sharma, the director of Aveo, displaying the same illegal substances that are sold in West African marketplaces. Sharma acknowledged the negative effects of these medications in the video, but he defended their sale as “business.”

These medications have had terrible effects. Substance addiction among youth has reached concerning proportions in Tamale, a city in northern Ghana. Task groups have been organized by local authorities, including Alhassan Maham, the city chief, to remove these dangerous substances off the streets. One of Aveo’s top opioid brands, “Tafrodol,” was found in enormous amounts during a raid that was seen on camera by a BBC team. Anxiety, hallucinations, and insomnia are among the severe withdrawal symptoms that addicts have described as life-destroying.

According to export records, millions of these tablets are being shipped to Ghana and other West African countries by Aveo Pharmaceuticals and its subsidiary business, Westfin International. With an estimated four million individuals, Nigeria is the largest market, home to 225 million people.

Brig Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa, the chairman of the Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has voiced serious worries about the situation, claiming that opioids are wreaking havoc on communities in Nigeria. Indian regulators placed export limits after a prior campaign on tramadol, a highly misused painkiller. Aveo and comparable businesses, however, got around these regulations by producing an even more effective alternative: the combination of tapentadol and carisoprodol.

Aveo Pharmaceuticals keeps sending these harmful chemicals to Ghana, where they are illegal, even though Indian regulations forbid exporting unlicensed medications unless they satisfy the requirements of the importing nation. The combination of tapentadol and carisoprodol has not been authorized for use in medicine, according to Ghana’s Drug Enforcement Agency.

India is dedicated to upholding stringent pharmaceutical laws and guaranteeing the safety of the world’s public health, according to the country’s drug regulating authority, CDSCO. In order to stop this issue and take action against pharmaceutical corporations who are breaking export laws, it has promised to work with West African authorities.

This discovery sheds light on a serious worldwide health issue by showing how unethical pharmaceutical practices fuel widespread addiction and public health emergencies. International collaboration is essential to holding pharmaceutical companies responsible and halting more harm as local authorities in Ghana and Nigeria fight the flood of illegal opioids.

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Source: BBC News