Delese Darko and Samuel Amo Tobbin
Following the ruling by an Accra High Court ordering the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to pay a colossal amount of GH¢94 million to Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Ltd for the unlawful destruction of unexpired drugs belonging to the pharmaceutical company, the Herald newspaper has detailed what it terms as “dirt with allegations of collusion.”
The detailed report also provided supporting evidence to what it says have been contradicting positions of the FDA and the Tobinco Pharmaceuticals LTD boss, Samuel Amo Tobin, in the case.
The timelines and reliefs sought by Tobinco have also come into question, particularly when the current FDA boss, Dr. Delese Darko, has been around from the very moment this case started in 2013.
What, however, has prompted this article are the questions surrounding the contradictions between the positions of Dr Darko in 2013 when she was not the head of the FDA, and how those positions changed when she climbed to the highest office of the enforcement authority.
According to the investigations by The Herald, it said it had in its possession excerpts of a document prepared by Delese Darko, which revealed the confessions of Samuel Tobbin when he was summoned to the FDA headquarters for questioning on the importation of “unregistered Artesunate/Amodiaquine suppositories into the country” in 2013.
The excerpts of the document, as quoted by the newspaper, are as follows:
“On the 10th September, 2013 an invitation for a meeting at the FDA Head Office on the issues was extended to the Chief Executive Officer of the Company, Mr Tobbin, which he honoured.
“In the meeting with the Head of Drug Enforcement Department, Mr Tobbin admitted importing the unregistered Artesunate/Amodiaquine suppositories into the country. He also admitted that most of the products imported by the Company had expired registration, whilst others were never registered with the FDA.
“He, however, explained that the Management of Tobinco Pharmaceuticals had decided to manufacture all the imported products locally at Entrance Pharmaceuticals, a sister local pharmaceutical manufacturing company which was still under construction, but was optimistic would soon be ready for production, hence the reason for holding on with the registration of the products.”
The report also indicated that the circumstances surrounding the importation of those drugs were so concerning that Tobinco was forced to recall its products in the market.
“Mr Tobbin was tasked to recall all the Artesunate/Amodiaquine suppositories in the country and to initiate the registration process for the unregistered products.”
The paper also stated that its sources at the FDA indicated that the pharmaceutical company was forced to ship back its unregistered and unwholesome products to the country of origin because the FDA got tired of destroying them and it also feared polluting the environment with poisonous gases coming from the destruction.
Ultimately, the paper draws a link between the current FDA boss, Dr. Delese Darko, and the timing and circumstances surrounding the reliefs sought by Samuel Amo Tobbin for the importation of drugs he brought into the country.
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