{"id":3394,"date":"2022-12-20T12:03:30","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T12:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/?p=3394"},"modified":"2022-12-20T12:03:30","modified_gmt":"2022-12-20T12:03:30","slug":"nigeria-nafdac-raises-alarm-over-the-existence-of-fake-covid-19-test-kits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/nigeria-nafdac-raises-alarm-over-the-existence-of-fake-covid-19-test-kits\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria: NAFDAC raises alarm over the existence of fake Covid-19 test kits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The\u202fNational Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has alerted Nigerians to the existence of fake Covid-19 Antigen rapid test kits in circulation.<\/p>\n<p>The notification is contained in a public alert issued by NAFDAC and released to the press on Sunday in Abuja.<\/p>\n<p>Health Canada in its communication, informed NAFDAC of the existence of these counterfeit BTNX Incorporated Covid-19 rapid antigen test kits, adding that these fake test kits were sold online in 25-pack boxes by a distributor called Healthful Plus who does not have the required licence.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Details on the counterfeit Covid-19 test kits<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>NAFDAC said the\u202fpackaging of the counterfeit kits looks like the authentic BTNX Inc. products in colour and typeface and uses the BTNX Incorporated.<\/p>\n<p>The food and drug regulator noted that the device\u202fidentifier has \u201cCOV-19C25\u201d, with several key differences, and then\u202flabelled as manufactured by \u201cHealth Advance Inc.\u201d instead of BTNX Inc.<\/p>\n<p>NAFDAC stated that on the packaging, Health Advance was identified as the \u201cOfficial Canadian Distributor of the counterfeit products, pointing out that the products had a claim of endorsement by government authorities, such as Health Canada.<\/p>\n<p>NAFDAC stated, \u201c<em>Genuine COVID-19 Antigen test kit helps detect certain proteins in the virus. Rapid antigen tests are designed to tell in a few minutes whether someone is infected or not.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIt is recommended as a high-performing test for individuals with symptoms, high-risk populations and healthcare or casual workers.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cCounterfeit health products are imitations of authentic products. The safety and effectiveness of these counterfeit test kits have not been assessed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe genuine manufacturer BTNX Inc. has confirmed that the devices were counterfeit.\u2019\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>NAFDAC outlines cautionary measures<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The agency advised wholesalers, distributors, pharmacies and consumers to ensure that their products are obtained from authentic and reliable sources.<\/li>\n<li>It also encouraged healthcare providers to Increase vigilance within the supply chain to avoid the importation, distribution, sale or use of counterfeit COVID-19 rapid antigen test kits.<\/li>\n<li>It advised healthcare providers to prevent the administration of the product to unsuspecting patients, adding that the products\u2019 authenticity and physical condition should be carefully checked.<\/li>\n<li>NAFDAC said that anybody in possession of the counterfeit product should immediately discontinue sale or use and submit stock to the nearest agency office.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The agency in its statement encouraged healthcare providers and consumers to report suspected counterfeit health products to NAFDAC on 0800-162-3322 or email:\u202fsf.alert@nafdac.gov.ng.<\/p>\n<p>NAFDAC also advised the public to report adverse effects via\u202fpharmacovigilance@nafdac.gov.ng, and e-reporting platforms\u202f<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nafdac.gov.ng\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.nafdac.gov.ng<\/a>\u202for via the Med- safety application for download.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u202fNational Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has alerted Nigerians to the existence of fake Covid-19 Antigen rapid test kits in circulation. The notification is contained in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[90,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nigeria","category-regulatory"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Covid-19-test-kits.jpg?fit=700%2C400&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3394"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3397,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3394\/revisions\/3397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}