The Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, has unveiled three pharmaceutical products and urged marketers to partner with the institution to promote locally produced medicines and reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported alternatives.

The products, AB Mal, ABUAD Virucidine, and AB Health Animation 250mg, were presented at the AB Pharmaceuticals Business Summit, which the university organised in collaboration with pharmaceutical marketers.

The university said the initiative aimed to strengthen the local pharmaceutical industry, promote indigenous research, and ensure wider acceptance of medicines developed and produced in Nigeria.

Speaking at the summit, the Deputy Director of AB Pharmaceutical Services, Afolabi Oluwatoyin, said the initiative was inspired by the university founder, Aare Afe Babalola’s vision of making locally produced medicines more accessible to Nigerians.

She said the objective was not primarily to make money but to encourage national self-reliance in pharmaceutical production and reduce the country’s dependence on imported traditional medicines.

Oluwatoyin lamented that Nigerians continued to patronise herbal medicines from countries such as China and India, while locally developed products struggled to gain similar acceptance.

She said, “The ultimate reason we are here today is to establish a marketing plan that will help us take these products to the Nigerian people.

“We have served the Indians enough, and we have served the Chinese enough. We have embraced different forms of multilevel marketing and imported their traditional medicines, while Nigerians continue to work hard to promote these foreign products.”

She called for a shift in Nigerians’ attitude towards locally developed medicines, saying effective marketing partnerships would be necessary to improve their visibility and acceptance.

“The aim of Aare Afe Babalola in developing ABUAD pharmaceutical products is not money. We all know that money is not its ultimate motivation. His vision is for Nigeria to begin treating its people with medicines produced locally,” she added.

She said Nigeria has considerable indigenous medicinal resources and needs to invest more in research, production, and marketing to compete effectively in the pharmaceutical market.

She added that the university was seeking partnerships with the Association of Pharmaceutical Products Marketers of Nigeria and other stakeholders to expand the reach of its products.

The Vice-Chancellor of ABUAD, Prof. Smaranda Olarinde, called for efforts to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported pharmaceutical products.

Olarinde said the country needed an ecosystem that brought universities, pharmaceutical companies, regulators, healthcare professionals, investors and consumers together to move promising innovations from the laboratory to the marketplace.

She stressed the importance of collaboration to strengthen local pharmaceutical production and ensure that Nigerian research translated into commercially viable products.

The Chairman of the Association of Pharmaceutical Products Marketers of Nigeria, Ekiti State chapter, Peter Ajayi, commended Babalola for his vision and commitment to indigenous pharmaceutical development.

Ajayi pledged the association’s support for efforts to promote the products and ensure they reached prospective consumers. (The Nation)