FDA schools managers of pharmaceutical companies

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has said it realised the importance of providing periodic training to local pharmaceutical manufacturing industries to improve supply of quality safe and efficacious pharmaceutical products.

The training is to develop their competence and competitiveness in the pharmaceutical industry in Ghana and for export to the West African sub -region and beyond.

Mr Hudu ogtsri, FDA Chief Executive Officer, said the local pharmaceutical manufacturing industry lacked behind their foreign counterparts when it comes to the presentation of certain quality documentation needed to ensure that their products meet both local and international acceptance.

At a two-day training programme for production and quality control managers of local pharmaceutical manufacturing companies on selected quality topics, he said the training covered key subjects such as development of specification for pharmaceutical products, design and implementation of stability studies, validation of pharmaceutical manufacturing process and development of batch manufacturing records.

It was aimed at improving the quality of the documentation of local pharmaceutical products that is presented for registration.

The selected topics will therefore help reduce the queries that are raised on these topics during the registration of products that contribute to delays in the registration process and the timely availability of the products in the market.

Mr Mogtari said since pharmaceutical products were not mere articles of commerce, what was put onto the market should be based on science and evidence based, tried and tested standardized procedures and processes.

He said as the government put in place policies to drive the local pharmaceutical industry to become very competitive within the west African subregion, the FDA deems it very necessary to help build the competence of the key technical personnel to ensure that the local industry continues to play its role in providing quality safe and efficacious medicines.

He commended the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom for providing the funds for the training.