Patients are being put at risk, as exhausted junior doctors work for 100 hours a week, a new report suggests.

Many training doctors are ‘tired and stressed' because of shift patterns which flout European laws on working hours, according to the General Medical Council (GMC).

Some of the 55,000 junior doctors are working double the legal limit of 48 hours a week.

“There are still long shifts, and long weeks, with many indicating they could still work up to 100 hours in a single week, and runs of 12 days at work – includingsome 13 hour shifts – not being unusual,” the report stated.

While some of the junior doctors questioned by Durham University researchers said that the regulations had led to fewer working hours, the rules had produced more shift work – leavingsome medics suffering fatigue.

Researchers, who interviewed 82 training doctors from across the UK about their working habits, suggest that many hospitals are relying on doctors in training to provide care and treatment, without adequate supervision from senior colleagues.

Niall Dickson, chief executive of the GMC, said: “It is clear the current system is not working as it should – insome cases, doctors are still too tired and there are issues around continuity and training opportunities.

“We must never go back to the ridiculous hours worked in the past, when patients were routinely put at risk by exhausted young doctors, but the current system is too complex and the way it is implemented far from satisfactory.”

Dr Ben Molyneux, chair of the British Medical Association's junior doctor committee, added: “Badly designed, understaffed rotas can leave junior doctors doing long stretches of night shifts, with fewer training opportunities.

“There is clear evidence that tired people are more likely to make mistakes and so it is essential that this problem is addressed.The solution does not lie in increasing working hours.There is clear evidence that long working hours increas the potential for doctors to make mistakes.”

He added that the union was in ‘exploratory talks' with the NHS Employers organisation about junior doctors' terms and conditions.

Dean Royles, director of NHS Employers, said: “Excessive working hours are detrimental to doctors and affect the quality of the care they give, so it's important we work together to produce an outcome that enables them to work efficiently and to the best of their ability.

“Improvements to the junior doctors' contract, in particular, could greatly benefit both staff and their patients.

“The services the NHS provides and the way it provides them have changed significantly since the contract was initially drawn and as a result, it is no longer fit for purpose.

“A renegotiated junior doctors' contract could simplify processes, increase the focus on patients, enhance training opportunities and achieve less rigid shift patterns.”

Culled from dailymail.co.uk/health

For Christian pharmacists across the country to enjoy the fulfilment of the prophetic declaration for 2013, as “the year of enlargement”, the Christian Pharmacists Fellowship of Nigeria (CPFN) has said discovering the secrets for enlargement, and abiding by them is key.

Speaking at the February breakfast meeting held in Lagos, Pharm. Umanze Cornelius, who spoke on the topic “Kingdom secrets for enlargement”, stated that man originally was created by God to live a prosperous life, but this was cut short, as a result of the sin committed in the Garden of Eden, as seen in the holy writ,Genesis 2:7-15.

He further explained that enlargement therefore will mean a return journey, a reversal or repentance, and turning from sin to live the way God wants man to live. “All that have been prescribed in the Bible as the way and manner the Christian should live constitute the kingdom secrets for enlargement.”

Umanze, who is the AGM Research and Development, Alpha Pharmacy, urged all Christian pharmacists to locate their positions in Christ and return to the author of success, for them to achieve real success in all their endeavours.

According to him, secret one is for pharmacists to live in conformity with the word of God and contrary to the corrupt systems of the world, adding that they should not be Sunday Sunday Christians, but they should be Christians indeed (Rom.12:2).

The second kingdom principle is the establishment of the kingdom of God, here on earth, through the preaching of the gospel, and helping the poor.

He listed secrets four and five as asking for enlargement, and service to God. On asking for enlargement, he cited the case of Jabez in 1 Chronicle 4:10, how Jabez prayed to God to enlarge his coast, and change his circumstances, and God answered his prayers.

He also admonished pharmacists to create time out of their schedule, to render acceptable service to God, stating that it has eternal rewards, hereafter.

Umanze further called on Christian pharmacists to lend to the Lord, by assisting the needy in the society, because, “whoever lends to the poor, lends to the Lord” (Proverbs 19:17).

Having highlighted the principles to kingdom enlargement, he stressed the need for pharmacists to be obedient to the totality of the word of God, stating that there are innumerable blessings accruable from this simple act of obedience to God and his word.

He however frowned at laziness as an attitude, stating that no pharmacist must give laziness a chance in his or her life, because laziness is a curse. Rather, he encouraged them to embrace diligence at work and in all their endeavours, because the hand of the diligent makes him rich.

Pharm (Mrs) Rachael Odesanya, ALPs national PRO, has advised all lady pharmacists to be more Internet compliant, in order for them to be abreast of new developments in the profession, both in Nigeria and outside the country.

Odesanya, who spoke with Pharmanews in an exclusive interview, is also the chief pharmacist and the co-ordinator of the Pharmacovigilance Centre in Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH).

She said ALPs recognised the need for members to be Internet compliant a few years back, and conducted IT training for them, which included the use of Internet in Enugu. “However it appears that some are still lacking this skill, that is why I am urging those concerned to seek opportunity to improve themselves in this 21^st century”.

The PRO, who hinted on the activities of ALPs, said the goal of the group for 2013 is for the current executive members to hand over to the newly elected officials, and preparations are on going to make it successful.

These and many more were her submissions. Below is the full text of the interview:

Could you tell us about yourself, background and past offices held?

I am a graduate of pharmacy from the University of Jos and a Fellow of the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists. I hold a Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. I work as a chief pharmacist and the co-ordinator of the Pharmacovigilance Centre in Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH). I enjoy giving lectures and helping people. I am an ordained elder in Elshaddai Covenant Ministries.  I am a recipient of several awards, both at the national and local levels. I am married to Pharm. Olakunle Odesanya and we are blessed with three lovely children.

Background: I am Igala by tribe from Kogi State and born to Hon. Daniel and Grace Ogbadu.

Past offices: I held the following offices at both the state and national levels from 1995 till date: PRO, Secretary, Ex-officio member (ALSP Plateau State at various times before joining the national executive). National offices: Internal auditor and currently the National PRO (second tenure).

As the PRO of ALPs, how would you describe ALPs performance at the just concluded PSN conference in Abeokuta?

ALPs performance at the just concluded PSN conference in Abeokuta was very impressive. ALPs was well represented at the conference and in fact, the Ogun State chapter of ALPs was fully on ground, to ensure the success of the conference. ALPs was also part of the conference planning committee and gave her full support to PSN. So, we did well. Up ALPs!

Could you tell us about the goals of the group for the year 2013?

Our goal for 2013 is mainly for the current executive members to hand over to new elected officials and we plan to make it successful. We have put structures in place, like the creation of ALPs website, and we want the new exco to continue to build on the current achievements. We also want to consolidate on our various state projects, like the girl-child training, and building of a quality control laboratory.

And what are the means to achieve these goals?

Through conferences, meetings, outreaches, workshops, advocacy and collaboration with other women groups and PSN.

It was in the news recently that women are lagging behind in the use of Internet. What programmes do you think can boost the Internet usage of your members?

ALPs recognised this a few years ago and conducted training in IT, including the use of Internet in Enugu for her members. Programmes which will enlighten women on the importance of Internet use, as well as the provision of Internet facilities not too far from the homes and offices will help. Women can be encouraged to download applications into their cell phones and subscribe to Internet facilities, to enable them browse right from their sitting rooms and kitchens.

As women, do you think your members can do well on plant research to the benefits of their patients?

Oh yes! Plant research is a major programme of ALPs for some years now and our technical adviser is the current director of the Nigerian Medicinal Plants Development Company, in the person of Pharm. Hajia Zainab Shariff. Medicinal plants were our focus at the 2009 conference held in Abuja, with the theme: Cultivation of medicinal plants for nutritional, health and economic empowerment of women. We discussed how these plants can benefit our patients and ALPs has researched into medicinal plants and identified where they can be grown in Nigeria. We have produced the Nigerian Medicinal Plant Compendium and it is currently on sale. This is because ALPs is in the forefront of promoting Nigerian medicinal plants.

What are the challenges of ALPs nationally, and how could these be resolved?

Our major challenge in ALPs national is the need to involve all members. Since the birth of ALPs in 1986 by three great mentors namely: Pharm. (Mrs) Amoni E. Pepple, Pharm. (Mrs) Adeline Wariso and Pharm. (Mrs) Ngozi Dolly Onugha (all FPSN), ALPs has grown and achieved quite a lot over the years, but would have done more if we have more passionate members who can cover lots of ground, if they are available to ALPs.

In addition, finance is a big challenge to ALPs national, and most of our laudable projects are stunted, due to lack of funds.

What is your advice to all pharmacists across the nation?

I encourage all pharmacists in Nigeria to be passionate about the profession. We should see it above every individual pharmacist, so that we can have a say in the scheme of things. We need to come together, rather than pull each other down; so that we can achieve great things for our profession, thereby making everyone proud to be a pharmacist in Nigeria. Do not give up on personal development!

In this edition of viewpoint, our reporter, Oladejo Adebayo went to town to get the reactions of Nigerians towards the practice of hawking and buying of drugs inside buses. Their diverse reactions are presented below.

Drugs should not be bought anyhow

I would not buy drugs in a bus for any reason because most of those drugs you see people selling inside buses are either fake or expired drugs. A lot of people who sell those drugs are charlatans, who have no knowledge about drugs and who are not trained to handle drugs. Most times, these people would change the expiry date of a drug, so that they could sell it to people and make money. I would prefer to buy my drugs from a registered pharmacy shop, so that if anything goes wrong, I could quickly go back to complain and I would know whom to hold responsible.

Meanwhile, I would advise those who still patronises these charlatans to desist from it, as it is too dangerous for their health. Why would they endanger their own lives, in the name of buying cheap things? Drugs are too dangerous to be bought anywhere and anyhow.

Tosin Oyewole

Staff, Newton Pharmacy

Iyana-Oba, Lagos

A reasonable person should know better

Drugs are not meant to be taken at will and also not to be bought anyhow, rather they should be prescribed by a doctor, and should be dispensed by a pharmacist or chemist, who knows the intricacies of drugs. If you take or buy drugs by yourself, without the directive of medical personnel, it could lead to breakdown of certain things in the body, or complications, and it could also lead to sudden death. So, a reasonable person should know that majority of those who sell drugs in buses are not trained medical practitioners, but traders who are concerned about their pocket and how to make ends meet.

However, some of the major reasons why some people fall prey to these people are as a result of ignorance, illiteracy and poverty, so those in the health sector should help enlighten people more on the dangers inherent in buying drugs from unregistered persons or premises, and by so doing, our health status would be better for it.

Pastor Femi Oni

College Road, Ifako Lagos

Those who patronises them are gullible!

A lot of people in this country are too gullible and as such, they are ready to buy anything, provided it is cheap. As far as I am concerned, cheap things kill faster than even a bullet, and I see no reason why a right thinking person, who values his or her life, would buy a malaria drug that is worth one thousand naira at a chemist shop at the rate of two hundred naira in a bus, and still go ahead to use the drug. I wonder how, on earth, would anyone expect the drug they sell at give away prices to do the same thing as those they sell at higher prices in pharmacy shops.

Meanwhile, it is worrisome that a lot of people, even the so called educated and the enlightened, patronise these charlatans, who sell drugs in buses. I think our government needs to do more in this aspect of fake and adulterated drugs. They should empower the agencies like NAFDAC, PSN and others to arrest and prosecute these charlatans.

Jumoke Ogunyemi

Idi Osan, Agbado

Lagos State

I would look at it, but I won’t buy

As for me, I would listen attentively to whatever they say about those drugs they sell in the bus, but nothing on this earth would make me patronise them. Most times, I do collect the pack of the drug from them, in order to see its features and some other things, but rather than buying it from them, I would prefer to go to my pharmacist, where I could make enquiries and seek advice on the drug. I have observed that over ninety nine percent of those who sell drugs in buses are either quacks or are not trained to handle drugs.

Meanwhile, those who buy these drugs do so because those drugs are extremely cheap. They have forgotten that their lives are more precious than the little money they are trying to save. So, as far as I am concerned, if a particular drug could not be found anywhere, except in a bus, I would rather forget about buying the drug.

Michael Nicholas

Ndike, Obawole

Lagos State

What is wrong with it?

What is the big deal in buying drugs inside a bus? Those who sell the drugs are human beings, just like you and I, and they are even well known among the commercial bus drivers and traders, and as such, they have no hiding place and one can easily trace them and lodge complaints, if anything goes wrong. To be sincere with ourselves, how many pharmacy shops in Nigeria would you get to that you would be attended to by a pharmacist? Most of them would open a pharmacy shop and put one of their brothers or sisters there to attend to people, while the owner would take another job with either government or private establishments.

So, when you look at it, it is like a case of calling a dog a bad name, in order to hang it. If a drug has not expired and the person selling it in a bus is not a ghost, why can’t I patronise them? What is the difference between those who sell drugs in buses and pharmacy shops, where a boy or girl of fifteen to twenty years old would attend to you? I am not saying there are no bad eggs among those who sell drugs in buses, just like we have among those who sell inside shops, but when one knows what he or she is buying, there is the tendency that one would not make the wrong choice.

Amusan Tolulope

Ijebu Ode

Ogun State

Pharm. (Mrs) Ibidun Dokubo is the Rivers State chairman of the Association of Lady Pharmacists (ALPs). In this exclusive interview with Pharmanews, she hinted that the association would love it if PSN, at the state level, could introduce innovative programmes for the development of the members.

Dokubo, who lamented the poor participation of members at ALPs activities, urged them to turn a new leaf in the New Year, by taking active part in the projects of the body, adding that this will promote the association a great deal.

Asked if her members are lagging behind in the use of the Internet, she said the

use of the Internet is a technological innovation that will enable the prompt delivery of pharmaceutical care and services, so we should embrace it.

These and many more were her submissions. Below is the full text of the interview.

Could you tell us about yourself madam?

My name is Pharm. Ibidun Dokubo. I graduated from Medical Academy, Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1985. I had my internship with State Hospital, Adeoyo, Ibadan, in 1986. Presently, I am a student of the West Africa Postgraduate College of Pharmacists. I work at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. I am married with children.

What is the objective of Rivers State ALPs for the year 2013?

We have three main objectives; the first is school moral and drug abuse campaign; second is community health education campaign; and lastly, support to schools of the physically challenged.

The school moral campaign will be held in secondary schools in the state. The focus is to educate youths on drug abuse and misuse, safe use of medication, moral values, and civic responsibilities. ALPs Rivers State will also hold programmes among target groups, as market women, old transport workers, and others. All these are geared towards ensuring that the society is adequately equipped with skills to live health promoting life styles.

Safe motherhood project, to address a serious health challenge: Nigeria still battles with high incidence of maternal mortality, infant mortality and low life expectancy. The association will work with clinics that provide antenatal and child care services to educate the women.

How would you assess PSN activities in the State, any achievements, and what are the areas to be improved upon?

The PSN activities in the state have improved and are highly commendable, as meeting attendance of members has increased. The technical groups and ALPs, as interest group, are carried along, to discuss issues and exchange ideas that will improve professional pharmaceutical practices and health care delivery in Nigeria. The activities of the society extend to rural areas, with campaign for more people to have access to safe medicines.

The state government has also recognised the role PSN has been playing, and to commend us, we got a bus for the state branch, and some got government sponsorship of pharmacists to FIP in 2012.

There is the need to encourage participation of more members at meetings and activities in the state and national conferences. Innovative programmes should be introduced, such programmes that the members cannot wave aside for their development

Is ALPs, as an interest group of PSN, living up to the objectives of its establishment in the state?

Oh yes, we still have a lot to do. We have regular monthly meetings; hold lectures in secondary schools on drug abuse / drug misuse, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B, and pharmacy, as a career.

We paid visits to market places, churches and other organisations, to give lectures.

We also visited compassionate homes and children’s homes (i.e. motherless babies’ homes and homes for the elderly) to donate drugs, toiletries, food items, and collaborate with our governor’s wife’s programme – Adopt a child initiative. We have adopted children.

It was stated in a report that women are lagging behind in the use of the Internet. Considering ALPs, as a women group, is this statement true about your members, and what are they doing to improve on themselves?

The use of the Internet is a technological innovation that will enable the prompt delivery of pharmaceutical care and services, so we should embrace it.

What are the challenges of the group, and how could they be resolved?

The attendance at meetings is low and there is a lukewarm attitude towards activities; lack of cooperation from some members. If a large number of us come out for these activities, the association will move forward, in all ramifications.

What is your advice to all pharmacists, and much more, to lady pharmacists?

All pharmacists – young and old – should come out to work together, to make a sacrifice for the profession, to add value to the world.

Pharm. Nnodum Iheme is the president of Nigerian Association of Pharmacists and Pharmaceutical Scientists in the Americas (NAPPSA). In this interview with Pharmanews, during the 85th PSN national conference held in Abeokuta, Ogun State, last November, he spoke on the activities of the association, and the long term plan to make NAPPSA an institution that will contribute more to the development of pharmacy in Nigeria.

Below is the full text of the interview:

How much of the objectives you set for NAPPSA at its inception have been achieved?

NAPPSA was formed in 2006.  It was inaugurated during our first conference in 2007.  Our goal then was to bring Nigerian pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists together in the Diaspora and work very closely with the associations and the institutions in Nigeria.

Our plan was to work with associations like the PCN, PSN, NAFDAC and the universities together and be able to bring quality standard to our practice.

We wanted to pull our resources together and be able to tackle some of our problems, particularly in areas such as patient care, pharmacy education, pharmaceutical manufacturing, clinical trials and drug distribution.

Looking at these laudable objectives, how much of it have you achieved so far?

So far we have been able to build relationship and trust.  NAPPSA sponsored about five people to come to this conference to talk about disease management and to talk about bioequivalence and what we really need to be doing. Those are some of the things that we have achieved.

We are now working with NAFDAC and PCN to form a working committee, so that we can share ideas on how to move forward.

Most importantly, we have missions and goals.  We are at the stage where we are implementing most of our plans to achieve our goals.

What are the challenges you think are facing pharmacists in Nigeria that NAPPSA can help in surmounting?

I think the most important thing is that knowledge is power.  With knowledge and information, I think the community pharmacists and hospital pharmacists in Nigeria can do better.  We are even doing exchange programme with ACPN.  Right now, there are memorandums of understanding between different universities, colleges of pharmacies in Nigeria and universities in US.  That is part of what NAPPSA is doing.  Knowledge is so critical.  If we can bring knowledge into the practice of pharmacy in Nigeria, that will really help to move the profession forward.

What are the plans of NAPPSA for the next 5 to 10 years? Where do you hope to see the association in the next 5 to 10 years?

By that time, NAPPSA will be an institution.  All of us will come down here to contribute.  Most importantly, NAPPSA would have ensured that the second generation of Nigerians in the Americas, who have never thought of coming to Nigeria to do anything and are now having a change of mind, and are thinking of coming home to do something, contribute more to this country.

Pharm. Harrison Kofi Abutiate, managing director and CEO, Paracelsus Pharmacy and Marketing Company Ltd, Accra, Ghana, is now the vice president of the World Glaucoma Patient Association (WGPA).

Harry, who took over this position from 1st of January, 2013, is now the only African on the Board of Directors of World Glaucoma Patients Association, an affiliate of the World Glaucoma Association.

Born on 16^th October, 1942 in Biakpa Avatime to Late Oscar Komla Abutiate and Aurelia Ablometi, he attended Biakpa Avatime Primary School, Kpedze Middle School, Amedzofe Middle School (1948-1957), Achimota Secondary School (1958-1962) and KNUST (1963-1969), graduating with a B. Pharm (Hons) degree. He holds a CIM–UK Certificate in Marketing and is a Chartered Marketer–UK.

Employed by Merck Sharp & Dohme International (MSD) as Zone Manager for West  Africa, covering Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia (1969-1978) during which he marketed Chibret (MSD Subsidiary) eye care products, including Ivermectin for treating onchocirchiasis, in Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone. He was promoted and based in Nairobi, Kenya as the MSD Zone Manager for Western, Eastern and Central Africa from 1978 to 1987, and was responsible for Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Ethiopia, Tanzania and The Seychelles.  He returned to Ghana in 1988 and worked for MSD for two more years before retiring.

From 1990 to date, he has worked as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Paracelsus Pharmacy and Marketing Company Ltd, founded with his wife, Elizabeth.  It is a community pharmacy, based in Osu RE Accra, specialising in marketing of various Alcon Pharmaceuticals eye care products, thus extending the variety and range of quality eye care products available to ophthalmologists, optometrists and ophthalmic nurses, as well as giving support and discount on eye medicines to glaucoma patients in Ghana.

He supported Ophthalmological Society of Ghana (OSG), for the past three years, to organise various conferences as a Platinum Sponsor, while helping ophthalmic nurses training school, Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana and the West African Post Graduate College of pharmacists with update lectures on medicines for treating various eye conditions. For the past five years, he has also sponsored Alcon/Paracelsus prize for the best final year student in ophthalmology at the Ghana Medical School.

As National President of Glaucoma Association of Ghana (GAG), a national glaucoma patients support group, from 1990 to date, Harry, as he is affectionately called, has helped organise several glaucoma awareness weeks and eye screening programmes in various parts of Ghana.

Harry, is a Fellow and past President of the Chartered of Marketing Ghana, CIMG (1999-2003); Chairman, Pharmacy Council of Ghana (2005-2007); Fellow of Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana; Board Member, University of Professional Studies (UPSA), formerly IPS (2004 to date); Fellow of the West African Post Graduate College of Pharmacists (WAPCP) by examination; and Chairman of the Ghana Chapter   of WAPCP (2007 to date).

Harry is also the Chairman, Executive Oversight & Avatime Development Committee and was decorated with the highest Award of the Avatime Traditional Council, OSISIBLISI, for professional Excellence in his chosen field and tremendous contribution to the development and upliftment of Avatime Traditional Area, by His Majesty, Osie Adza Tekpor V11, Paramount Chief of Avatime Traditional Area and the people of Avatime, as a worthy son in November, 2010.

Harry is an active member and former Member of Council of Trinity United Church, Legon (1995 to date); as well as Member of International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) and Commonwealth Pharmacists Association (CPA).

He has written many feature articles on eye care products and has travelled widely, attending conferences on eye care. His hobbies include reading books on eye diseases, (especially Glaucoma), football and boxing.  He is married to Elizabeth and they have three children.

Bradford Pharmaceuticals Limited, a new indigenous pharmaceutical manufacturing company, has debuted with four brands of family health medicines.

The unveiling of the new medicines took place recently at a colourful ceremony held at Lagos Airport Hotel and attended by a good number of health practitioners and some top Lagos State Government officials.

Speaking at the occasion, Hon. Idowu Obasa, chairman of Bradford Pharmaceuticals, said that the core values of the company are: caring, safety and effectiveness and intellectual enquiry (research), adding that these core values have been nurtured and fostered in the new medicines.

He noted that the Bradford brands, three OTCs and one ethical medicine are unique, in some respect, and some of them are even novel.

The Bradford helmsman stated that the company invested in local pharmaceutical manufacturing because of its commitment to social consciousness and responsibility and to make invaluable contributions to industrialisation and help tackle youth unemployment.

Local pharmaceutical manufacturing, Hon. Obasa, stated further will also help curb the incidence of fake and counterfeit medicines coming from outside and help ensure availability of safe and effective medicines for health care delivery, conservation of foreign exchange and utilisation of locally produced raw materials and services.

Speaking on the newly launched products, the Bradford chairman said that the first product, Bradmol Syrup, is a pleasantly flavoured paracetamol syrup, formulated specially to avoid the possibility of the abuse of propylene glycol, glyecerine and analogues.

He noted that Bradford researched into the unfortunate incidents of poisoning involving some brands of paracetamol syrup and baby teething mixture, some years back, and formulated Bradmol Syrup to eliminate the problem.

He said that Bradmol is effective in relieving feverish conditions in children and useful in mitigating fever and pain after immunisation, adding that Bradmol syrup is an effective household paediatric analgesic and antipyretic medicine with high safety index.

The second product, Bradcoff expectorant, the chairman said, is a pleasantly flavoured cough syrup indicated for the treatment of cough and nasal congestion in both children and adults. Speaking about the two other products, Bradferex and Bradferon blood tonics, Hon. Obasa noted that, while Bradferex blood tonic is an iron supplement that provides iron in daily need amount together with folic acid and vitamin B-complex, Bradferon is a prescription only medicine (POM) with a high concentration of iron, adding that his company is introducing the products with the full confidence that anyone who uses them will not hesitate to recommend them to others, because they are top quality products.

Speaking with Pharmanews in an exclusive interview after the launch, Pharm. Anthony C. Obi, the superintendent pharmacist of Bradford, said that the company is in the Nigerian pharmaceutical sector to make positive contributions, both in terms of supplying top quality products and employment opportunities to Nigerians.

He said the company is already planning to establish a standard manufacturing facility to continue manufacturing and producing quality medicines for Nigerians at affordable prices.

Dr. Caleb Ademola Gbiri is a lecturer with University of Lagos College of Medicine and also a Neuro-physiotherapist with the same institution.  In this exclusive interview with Pharmanews in his office recently, he expressed his displeasure towards the unfavourable condition which he said physiotherapists are subjected to in the country.

The university don, who spoke extensively on the importance of a physiotherapist to an hospital, however, lamented that poor conditions of service and bad policies of government were part of the reasons why physiotherapists are few in the country.

Read the details below:

I am Caleb Ademola Gbiri. I am a lecturer with the University of Lagos College of Medicine and I am also a Neuro-physiotherapist.

What is physiotherapy all about?

Physiotherapy is about management of all disease conditions with minimal use of drug.  It also involves preventive mechanism towards preventing disease condition and also rehabilitative and curative.  Some conditions are not curable, but you can improve on the quality of life and functional performance of such an individual, while some are curable. So, physiotherapy moves from preventive to curative and to rehabilitative.  Contrary to so many people’s belief that physiotherapy is all about taking care of injury.  That is partially correct, in the sense that we have an aspect of physiotherapy that deals with muscular skeletal injury and sport injury.  Those sets of people deal in both prevention and rehabilitation of patients after injury.  What they do basically is treat injury as a result of any muscular skeletal accidents.  However, instead of talking about injury, I would rather call it abnormality or pathological persons, in which physiotherapy is involved in restoring the functional performance of an individual who has a deviated functional performance from the norm.

To a lay man, who do we call a physiotherapist?

A physiotherapist is a health care practitioner who treats all disease conditions with minimal use of drug by the use of physical modalities like exercises.  Physiotherapists use a lot of physical modalities and we de-emphasise, as much as possible, the use of drug.  They only use drug where it is highly mandatory and they have a means in which they send the drug into the system, and not orally.  Some people would say physiotherapy is all about bones, while some would say it is about muscle.  It depends on whom they have had contact with, because physiotherapy is a broad spectrum of specialties, which have more sub-specialties within.

Why are physiotherapists very few in the country?

The condition of service is one of the major reasons why physiotherapists are few in this country. You see, health sector is an heterogenous sector and we have discovered that there is more favourable condition and outcome for physiotherapists outside the country than those practicing here.  Nigeria actually produces sizeable numbers of physiotherapists but because of conditions of service like remuneration, work conditions, and of course, for example, we have not seen a physiotherapist becoming a Chief Medical Director of a hospital, but outside the country, those things are obtainable.  Therefore, the practitioners would want to go to where the condition of service is juicier than what we have here. The importance of physiotherapists is less recognised here in Nigeria; meanwhile, they are treated as kings outside the country.

What is the importance of a physiotherapist to a hospital?

I tell you, no hospital can function adequately without a physiotherapist.  I am repeating, no hospital can function adequately without a physiotherapist.  Because you would discover that, in my definition, I said a physiotherapist is involved in all disease conditions, and also in the prevention modem in the health sector.  Take a stroke patient, for example, it is not only giving drugs to a stroke patient that would make him or her to return to the pre-stroke activities.  It involves a neuro-physiotherapist to rehabilitate the person back to normal.  Meanwhile, the drug would only modulate the blood pressure and other parameters.  Every patient that has undergone surgery must have a physiotherapist and therefore, any hospital that is having surgery and does not have a physiotherapist tends to have problems.  We also have obstetrics and gynaecology physiotherapists (O&G), and this set of people are involved with women’s health, from peri-natal period, anti-natal period, delivery period and post-natal period, they are all involved in delivery and post delivery process.  You see a lot of people play down on the significance of physiotherapists, but until a patient is exposed to all the spectrum and utilises them, then, the patient has not being adequately cared for. So, no hospital, including the primary health centres, can function adequately without a physiotherapist.

Compared to what is obtainable in advanced countries, how would you assess physiotherapy practice in Nigeria?

In terms of ability and capability of physiotherapists in Nigeria, they are at par with their counterparts elsewhere, but when it comes to exposure to facilities, remuneration and conditions of service, they are at the lowest spectrum of the ladder, and that is why we see a lot of practitioners emigrating to all those advanced countries, because there are better conditions of service in those places.  So, if we can make it better here also, even if it’s not up to that of those places but a little bit comparable to it, most of these people outside would prefer to stay here, and they would contribute to our health care development.  In Nigeria, our physiotherapy patient ratio is very low, when you compare it with WHO standard. In Nigeria presently, we don’t have up to one thousand physiotherapists practicing in Nigeria effectively, and we have over one hundred and sixty million population.  You can imagine what would happen at the end of the day. There was a time a patient was referred to (OAUTH) Ile-Ife to see a physiotherapist but before he got there, we lost the patient.  We are not having access to what we are supposed to have access to, and the few people that have access to it are not in the country.  Meanwhile, recognition is also another problem, and this recognition falls in different places, on the part of government and on the part of policy makers.  For example, we were talking about health policy and health bill in the National Assembly; you would discover that there has not been any input from physiotherapists into this bill. It is worrisome seeing somebody who is not a physiotherapist deciding what we should be earning, as physiotherapists; this can be very embarrassing. Also, in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), physiotherapists have not been factored into it; and among the just constituted the Board of all Teaching Hospitals and Parastatals, there is no physiotherapist in any.  How would a person who does not know what is happening in a profession decide for that profession? It is impossible.  So, at the end of the day, despite the fact that the health care sector is a heterogeneous sector, we are operating a monogenous focused approach.  In terms of remuneration, a physiotherapist who had been practicing for more than ten years is not earning as much as another health care professional who just graduated two years ago.  How would you think that such a person would be motivated?  The person would rather look for a better option elsewhere by going outside the country. Again, there should be establishment of a directorate for physiotherapy in the ministry of health that would oversee into the running and policy making of physiotherapy service.

How affordable is it to consult a physiotherapist?

I would say that one of the goals of physiotherapy is to make the service affordable and accessible to everybody, irrespective of your cadre.  Therefore, the only problem we are having is awareness, on the part of the populace. A lot of the time, the condition that should go for the physiotherapist would be taken to other practitioners, or even general practice, especially in the private hospitals; their referral system is nothing to write home about. They hardly refer and they like to optimise the income and so they won’t involve professionals to manage specific conditions, and at the end of the day, they complicate the problem of the patient.

The President of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Osahon Enabulele, recently proposed life imprisonment for quacks, as a means of stamping out quackery in the medical profession.

Enabulele made the call when he spoke in Abuja, where he also said the issue of quackery was a challenge facing the NMA and particularly the growth of health care practice in the country.

He advised governments at all levels to take the issue of quackery very seriously and responsibly, saying it was endangering the lives of Nigerians. He also urged Nigerians to work closely with the NMA, in its bid to put an end to quackery.

“With respect to the issue of quackery, the NMA, more than any other organisation, has been challenging the people of Nigeria to partner with her, to ensure that issues of quackery are seen as things consigned to the dustbin of the history of Nigeria.

“In 2012, for the first time in recent times, a professional organisation like the NMA disciplined its own member and made it known to the public, as a way of letting the public know that we can no longer do things the old ways. We call for things like life imprisonment for quacks, because they are doing untold harm and damage to the people of Nigeria,” he said.

A nongovernmental organisation, Christian Rural and Urban Development Association of Nigeria, CRUDAN, South West, has decried the worsening state of child and maternal mortality rate in the country.

In a paper titled, “Commitment to family planning/childbirth spacing for healthy families and national development”, the group’s South West coordinator, Adesina Adeduntan, said CRUDAN’s worry emanated from various findings it gathered from programmes it organised with civil society and community based organisations.

“Recent data reflect the poor state of maternal and child health in the country, as they show that Nigeria is losing women and children, as a result of high risk pregnancies (pregnancies below age 18 years, above age 34 years, birth interval of less than 24 months apart and birth order of 5 and above),” the statement reads.

Citing United Nations estimate of year 2000, CRUDAN noted that about 52,000 Nigerian women still die every year, as a result of pregnancy, delivery or post delivery complications, while out of every 1,000 live births, 201 children die before they attain the age of 5 years.
The group further noted that, if the worsening trend is to be mitigated, there must be a commitment to increase the use of family planning, child birth spacing methods (CBS contraceptives and natural).

“Evidence abounds that family planning/child birth spacing, will reduce 88,400 of the current 340,000 infant deaths annually, if women in any risk category avoid pregnancy. Also, the lives of about 13,000 women, who die annually as a result of induced abortion, will be saved, if there is increase in uptake of family planning/child birth spacing, CBS services, among others,” the statement reads.

CRUDAN also urged government at all levels to show more commitments in improving the nation’s health care delivery system through structural and legislative frameworks.

“CRUDAN hereby calls on government at all levels and other relevant stakeholders to: formulate Family Planning/Child Birth Spacing policy, enact laws promoting family planning/child birth spacing issues, create budget lines for family planning/child birth spacing and release allocated funds, promote and strengthen public private partnerships for family planning/child birth spacing programmes, support capacity building of service providers and the provision of equipment and commodities for family planning/child birth spacing, as well as include family planning/child birth spacing services in the National Health Insurance Scheme,” the statement reads.

By Adebayo Folorunsho-Francis ——

Sequel to an appeal from the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) to the Federal Ministry of Education to prevail on the National Board for Technical Education Board to scrap the Pharmaceutical Technology Diploma Programmes in polytechnics, the National Association of Pharmaceutical Technologists and Pharmacy Technicians of Nigeria (NAPTTON) has chided the society for making such remark.

In an official statement signed by its President, Alhaji Yusuf Hojapa, NAPTTON declared that such programmes are still needed in the country.

It would be recalled that the PSN had frowned at the initiative of the NBTE offering of diploma programmes in Pharm Tech during its annual general meeting at the 85th annual national conference in Abeokuta, Ogun State in November last year.

Among other things, the conference strongly urged the Federal Ministry of Education to immediately direct the NBTE to stop such programmes which PSN believes could introduce new dimensions in quackery in drug distribution as is already being witnessed in some Southern States in Nigeria.

In an official communiqué released to the media, the pharmacists emphasised that the “Conference found it necessary to draw the attention of the Federal Ministry of Education to statutory powers of the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria to regulate pharmacy practice and training in all aspects and ramifications in Nigeria.”

Consequently, the PSN is calling for a total scrapping of the programme on the grounds that pharmaceutical technology is a postgraduate specialty in universities.

Hojapa however disagreed with the notion. He insisted that pharmaceutical technology programmes operate freely in Ghana and other countries, adding that it was surprising that the NBTE was planning to do them.

The NAPTTON appealed to the Minister of Education, Prof. Rukkayat Rufai, to disregard the suggestion to scrap the programmes, adding that the programmes would rather advance pharmacy education and practices in the country.

“We at NAPTTON condemn the recent call that Pharmaceutical Technology Programme being anchored by NBTE be stopped by the Minister of Education.

“Pharmaceutical Technology programmes (ND/HND) operate freely in Ghana and other climes, hence one wonders why any group should pull woods on the face of the distinguished Minister of Education who is well-informed about developments internationally,” he said.

As Prince Adelusi-Adeluyi canvass for teamwork among health professionals

By Adebayo Folorunsho-Francis

In appreciation of his resilience and commitment to importing quality drugs, Prince Christopher Nebe, chairman, PharmaDeal Nigeria Limited has been given an award of excellence by the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPMPN).

The event which attracted doctors, pharmacists and several health professionals took place at the Lagos Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, on 4^th December, 2012.

Also in attendance were Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, chairman, Juli Pharmacy Plc, Dr Jide Idris, commissioner for health in Lagos State, Dr (Chief) Adeyeye Arigbabuwo, AGPMPN chairman, Dr Anthony Omolola, AGPMPN national president and Chief Michael Oyebanjo, chairman, Mopson Pharmaceuticals among others.

In his keynote address, Prince Adelusi-Adeluyi, who also doubled as chairman of the event attributed the woes plaguing the country to leadership problem, adding that there is indeed a need to return to ethical practice.

The chairman explained that he understands things are quite tough thereby compelling many people to ‘cut corners.’

“Once you are able to do this, you will make a lot of money and be respected in the society. But in truth, only a man of character can be trusted. One of these men of characters are health workers. As professionals, you must learn to be contented with your professional practice,” he said.

Prince Adelusi-Adeluyi appealed to people in the medical field to recognise the need for cooperation with other team players like pharmacists, laboratory technicians, radiographers, NAFDAC officials and a host of others.

He used the example of Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge who was recently told to have a bed rest due to her pregnancy, stressing that her safety suddenly necessitated the presence of relevant health professionals to get their opinion.

“As I mentioned earlier, we all have relevant roles to play if there is ever going to be any hope for this our dear country – Nigeria.

Among other recipients who also received awards of honour at the night were Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi, Chief Michael Oyebanjo, Dr Tosin Ajayi, chairman, First Foundation and Dr Abdulrahman Sambo, acting secretary, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

By Pharm. Nelson Okwonna

 NIPRISAN, more popularly or formally known as NICOSAN™, is a herbal formulation for the management of sickle-cell disease(SCD) developed by indigenous researchers at the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Abuja, Nigeria. NIPRISAN, as claimed in the patent, is a herbal mixture extract, formulated from parts of four different indigenous plants (Piper guineenses seeds, Pterocarpus osun stem, Eugenia caryophylum fruit and Sorghum bicolor leaves) and an inorganic material mixed at specific ratios which has been shown to be safe and effective in the management of sickle cell disease during a phase 1 and subsequent Phase 2 clinical trials.

In his article: “NIPRISAN Case, Nigeria: A Report for GenBenefit” published in 2007. Professor C. Wambebe described the events that led to the development of the therapy for sickle cell disease by indigenous researchers. Under his leadership as the Chief Executive officer, the management at the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD) had focused on indigenous medical knowledge in their search for a therapy for SCD.

They had received credible information about Rev. Ogunyale who was treating SCD patients with a herbal medicine. Rev. Ogunyale was then invited to discuss possible collaboration with the NIPRD. After some negotiations, he released his recipe, as a sacred trust, for further development into an effective medicine for the benefit of SCD patients globally.

According to Article 27 of Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, patents can be granted in all fields of technology vis-à-vis processes and products with the exclusion of plants and animals. However, the caveat that natural substances do not qualify for patentability applies directly to plants, animals and micro-organisms, it does not infer that the technical processes applied to develop a product with a potential for future commercialisation for specific public use cannot be patented. The patenting of NIPRISAN in the USAwas undertaken under this premise.

Considering the amount of time and money spent in obtaining a patent, the effort should be worth it. A patent should have economic value to the holder and the process for actualising the economic value for a patent should be well considered before the patent is filed. For instance, it could be wise to delay filing a patent for a drug molecule if it would take another ten years to get to the market, as the market exclusivity provided by a patent is usually  between fourteen and twenty years from the date of filing.

The risk of exposure prior to filing should be weighed against the time advantage of a delayed filing. Copying and adding a slight modification in the nature of an existing patented material could justify obtaining a new patent for the modified material. This could be an effective business strategy. Another strategy is to wait and copy! Waiting for a patent to expire and then reproducing the product or process is a good means of developing generic drugs.

A proper intellectual property protection infrastructure assures the knowledge workers that they would reap maximum benefits from their creations.

LICENSING

A patent, trademark or copyright can be licensed to a second party other than the assignee. In the case study, Xechem Pharmaceutical Nigeria Ltd was the licensee responsible for the further development and marketing of NIPRISAN. The product was marketed as NICOSAN™ Licensing allows the holder of the proprietary rights to leverage on the finances of other parties. As shown in this story, the product was licensed to Xechem who were able to raise the financing for further development and had the capacity to commercialize the venture.

A licensing agreement usually grants the licensee the rights to use, make, manufacture and sell products under the rights granted by the licensor in a given territory. These rights granted by the licensor to the licensee can be sole, exclusive and non-exclusive.The licence issued to Xechem in this case study was an exclusive license. A patent does not confer marketing rights for certain regulated products like drugs, food and certain technology. These would still need to be approved by certain regulatory agencies before they can be used in a particular country. NICOSAN™ was approved for marketing by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIP

A patent does not automatically imply resource generation. There should be an effective strategy for converting the invention to money. The strategy should be one that yields sufficient returns on the investment before the market exclusivity expires and “generics” begin to flood the market. Collaboration is therefore a necessity. There is a big difference between the language of research and that of commerce, and a bridge is necessary to translate the products of research to useful products on the shelf. As shown by the Honourable Minister, Prof. Turner Isoun in our story above, that bridge is arrived at via conscious, deliberate efforts.

The first deliberate effort is to develop products of research with economic potentials. The next deliberate step is to achieve intellectual property protection. Intellectual property protection assures market exclusivity and justifies the partnership with the industry which is in desperate need of the rewards of such market exclusivity. Leadership in research implies understanding the limitations of a solo effort and hence the need for collaboration amongst researchers, development consultants and industry. A research development consultant could be needed to design and implement a mutually profitable strategic framework for partnering with the industry. This ensures that the often eccentric academic researcher is not exploited by the perceived “sharks” in the industry.

Once an interested party is identified and talks begin, there are a number of options that might be selected to develop the product.

1. The research team could develop a company, raise money and build a business around their product: Examples are Google, Research in Motion, Apple Computers, and even the numerous companies that Thomas Edison founded to produce his inventions. To achieve success, however, the research team should have the necessary managerial competence. If need be, the researcher or research team could offer ownership for managerial competence. This was how Bill Gates got Steve Ballmer to join Microsoft.The process of finding such funding is either from personal savings, loans, profits from the business, venture financing or public offers.
2. Secure a royalty agreement by licensing the product to a second party as was done with

NIPRISAN.The following are the payment options under a Licence agreement:

a)          Lump sum fee

b)         Percentage of net sales

c)          Percentage of profit before tax

d)         Combination of lump sum fee and a percentage of net sales

e)          Combination of a percentage of net sales and a percentage of net profit before tax

The NIPRD-Xechem collaboration was for a good faith payment of $115,000 and a 7.5 per cent of gross sales as royalties.

The first option has always been shown to be more profitable especially in our time and age. A challenge, however, occurs when the competition is such that the new small company is unable to compete fairly in the market.

Assuming you are to develop a much better mobile technology, as was the case with the development of the Blackberry device by Research in Motion Inc., the size of the competition is enormous. To compete, the new firm should have fairly large financial muscles in addition to her intellectual property protection. To achieve this, she might need to leverage on the partnership of individuals or organisations with some very deep pockets or partner with one of the existing large firms. The strategy for making such an entry is often as much or sometimes even more important than the innovation itself. Most of the time, these new firms resort to venture financing and then subsequent initial public offer on the stock market – Research in Motion Inc. took this path.

Reference

1. Okwonna, N. (2012). The Heart and Art of Innovation, Onel Media Services, Lagos, Nigeria

By Nelson Okwonna

The National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research & Development (NIPRD) established through the Science and Technology act (1987) has as one of its mandates the development of herbal medicinal products (Phytomedicines) up to pilot stage for commercialisation. The Institute has over the years endeavored to achieve this, with NIPRISAN as an example in this regard.

The Institute currently collaborates with Traditional Medical Practitioners (TMP) towards fulfilling this mandate but the synergy and uptake of research results is slow or non-existent. Advocacy for effective and continuous collaboration with all key stakeholders in herbal drug industry in Nigeria is therefore important and urgently required. NIPRD is currently exploring new opportunities to achieve this.

Not all TMPs are aware of the benefits embedded in adding science to their medicinal herbal product, while the Nigerian Pharmaceutical industry has not fully tapped into the resources available for Pharmaceutical Research in NIPRD and in the utilization of its R & D results.  These are some of the impediments in the drug development process from Nigerian medicinal plants, which have huge health and economic benefits for the nation.

Fostering effective uptake of Research results from NIPRD is one of the targets of the Institute’s strategic plan (2011-2015). This strategy is supported by the Nigerian Traditional Medicine Policy and the National Strategic Health Development Plan (NSHDP) of the Federal Ministry of Health. This is because it is widely recognised that such collaboration could bring huge health benefits to the populations, especially in controlling the HIV/AIDS pandemic and malaria; diseases which have placed a heavy burden on already weakened health systems in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa.

In pursuit of this objective, NIPRD organised a stakeholder’sforum on the 30^th of October with the theme: Strengthening the Research and Development processes for theCommercialization of NIPRD Phytomedicines(A case study of antidiabetic phytomedicine).

The World bank sponsored forum was well attended by pharmaceutical researchers and Traditional medicine practitioners although there were not enough representation from industry.

The forum afforded NIPRD the opportunity to get feedback on its performance and expectations from the Nigeria Pharmaceutical Industry and Traditional Medical Practitioners.

It was also a time for stakeholders to determine the challenges and prospects of partnership between Traditional Medicine Practitioners (TMPs) and scientists involved in drug development suggesting way forward.

NIPRD also took the opportunity to highlight to the Nigerian Pharmaceutical industry, the commercialisation opportunities inherent in her drug development activities with special reference to the STEP B antidiabetic project.

At the end of the forum the participants arrived at the following communiqué:

• There is a huge market for traditional herbal medicine left untapped in Nigeria.
• There is a disconnect between the stakeholders in pharmaceutical research and development (Scientists, TMPs,  and the industries)
• There is need for deliberate means of building confidence and trust amongst NIPRD, TMPs, Scientists and pharmaceutical industry.
• There is need for demand driven collaborative research involving scientists from universities, research institutes, pharmaceutical industry and TMPs.
• There is need to create awareness amongst stakeholders on the existing laws that protect intellectual properties of individuals, scientists, TMPs, and communities.
• There is need for funding research and development (R and D) through private-public and community partnership
• There should be increased exchange of researchers between research institutes, universities and pharmaceutical industries.
• There is need for diffusion of information to and from the TMPs, scientists and other stakeholders.

By Pharm. Nelson Okwonna

 Developing nations with unique features like large market size and growth rate, access to regional markets and skilled/cheap labour, have a lot to offer. Asides serving as consumer nations and probably manufacturing centres due to the relatively cheaperlabour, the earnings of these nations would be greatly increased when they begin to add a relatively cheaper  not only mass-produce but to also add a certain level of originality to their products.

For such nations, their global competitiveness can be greatly increased when it is difficult to find alternatives for their products without violating proprietary rights. In the Nigerian pharmaceutical industry, finding originality would be the next step after achieving an effective manufacturing capacity and the firms that would solve this riddle would be the kings of the future. This has been amply demonstrated in the Indian pharmaceutical industry.

Innovation, however, do not just come about. According to the founder of modern management, Peter F. Drucker, it is a product of a cold-eyed commitment to the source of innovation; it demands deliberate inquiry and organisation.

The term “National Innovation Systems” is used to describe the set of complex processes of interactions between private and public actor-institutions that are involved in the development, transmission, modification and commercialisation of new knowledge and technology within a nation. It is a process-based concept that seeks to evaluate the innovative capacity of a nation from the standpoint of the processes that lead to innovation.

The Innovation system approach is a deviation from the linear approach that evaluates inputs rather than processes. Before the concept of National Innovation Systems became common, a Nation like Nigeria could assess her commitment to developing new technologies and enterprise by measuring the amount of funds committed to research and development, the number of publications from her academic institution, and also by the amount and ease of access to R and D funding by the Industry.

The linear approach assumes that as long as researchers engage in research activities and government provide the right incentivesthat someday, the spark would happen.

This has not been found to be true; experience has shown that the level of interaction between the actors plays a more important part.

It is observed that certain localities happen to have a relatively higher level of innovative capacity. In these regions, nations or parts of a nation, the amount of inputs and the degree of interaction required for innovation to happen has been achieved and sustained. This is seen in the notable trend towards the creation ofspecialised knowledge centresnear leading universities that are oriented towardsresearch and development on particular technologies.

The Silicon Valley in California (near Stanford University and theUniversity of California), a biotechnology cluster in the Boston area (near theMassachusetts Institute of Technology) and a communications cluster in NewJersey (near Princeton University and the former Bell Laboratories) are examples of such innovation-clusters in the United States.

Thequantity and quality of interaction between Actor-institutions could be evaluated along these lines:

1. Interactions among enterprises, primarily joint research activities and other technical collaborations.

1. Interactions among enterprises, universities and public research institutes, including joint research, co-patenting, co-publications and more informal linkages.

1. Diffusion of knowledge and technology to enterprises, including industry adoption rates for new technologies and diffusion through machinery and equipment; and

1. Personnel mobility, focusing on the movement of technical personnel within and between the public and private sectors.

It has been shown that high levels of technical collaboration, technology diffusion and personnel mobility contribute to the improved innovative capacity of enterprises in terms of products, patents and productivity.

Within the Nigerian Pharmaceutical Industry, the actor-institutions include the pharmaceutical companies, academia, public pharmaceutical research institutions, clinical research centres, technology transfer offices, government, financial institutions, media, and knowledge management consultancy firms.

From my experience in the knowledge management Industry, these actor-institutions have achieved a certain level of development sufficient to be active participants in sustainable innovative frameworks. The missing link is the deliberate commitment to processes that ensure sufficient and effective interactions. This will demand conscious steps to remove the traditional barriers that impede this interactions.

These interactions could be in the form of industry-sponsored research collaborations, contracts, research industry forums and technology prizes initiated by Industry. They could be initiated by either the private or public sector provided that there is sufficient ownership across board.

Given the relatively divergent thought frames that prevail within Industry and pharmaceutical research institutions and the myriad of other concerns that relate to intellectual property management, actor-institutions that promote thisinteraction would have a great role to play in achieving a sustainable innovation system within the Nigerian pharmaceutical sector.

Fig. 1 Schematic Representation of National Innovation Systems

As shown above, at the heart of the National Innovation system is the innovative firm which must find within the myriad of actors, processes and strategies that would result in the profitable development of new products and services. The role of the government would be to stimulate greater inputs across the participating actor-institutions and reduce barriers to interaction.

The Nigerian Science, Technology and Innovation Policy document that was released of late has these words as the statement of commitment from the president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

”We are going to run our economy based on Science and Technology….because there is nowhere in this World now that you can move your economy without science and technology. For the next 4 years we will emphasize so much on S&T because we have no choice, without that we are just dreaming….”

The President was right; towing the path of innovation is no longer the characteristic high sounding ideals of beady eyed researchers or is it restricted to corporate vision statements hung on the wall to massage the ego of executives and perhaps impress shareholders. Driving innovation in today’s global knowledge economy is basically a question of survival.

For the Nigerian pharmaceutical Industry, it could decide who would be here ten years from now.

References

1. Drucker, P.F. (2003). The Discipline of Innovation. In Best of HBR, The Innovative Enterprise, Harvard Business Review, EBSCO Publishing.
2. Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2011. Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Policy, September, 2011.
3. Okwonna, N. 2012. The Heart and Art of Innovation, Onel Media Services, Lagos, Nigeria
4. Organisation for Economic Co-Operation And Development. 1996.National Innovation Systems, 1996.

By Pharm. Nelson Okwonna

The recent Samsung-Apple saga has given us ample opportunity to discuss and reflect on the roles of intellectual property, in an increasingly knowledge-dependent economy. We are getting more familiar with the word “patents”. Though patents and other intellectual property have played very important roles in the development of global economies, in many parts of Africa, they are still not very much understood.

Our academic curriculum, somehow, is deficient in the aspect of knowledge management and this is very worrisome. It is worrisome because it is difficult to drive sustainable development in a global economy, without a proper understanding and application of intellectual property protection and commercialisation.It is quite laudable that a good education should equip us to perform specific defined functions; however, it is more laudable when education empowers us to create.

For every resource available to man, the application of knowledge is what would expand its value. We go to school to be taught, crude oil needs to be refined, sand has to be made to silicon, words can become codes and a couple of good ideas can give you an IPad. This application of knowledge to increase value is what patents seek to achieve. It thrives on the wheels of self-belief.  Those that engage in development endeavours must first believe in themselves, because protection of intellectual property requires that an individual possesses a certain body of knowledge which he values enough to protect his right to it.

DEFINITIONS

According to the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), intellectual property refers to creations of the mind. Intellectual Property Right (IPR) therefore, refers to property rights on the creations of the mind. IPR is generally divided into two main categories – industrial property and copyright.

Industrial property refers to patents for inventions, trademarks, geographical indications and industrial designs. Copyright, on the other hand, includes literary and artistic works, musical works, novels, poems, plays, films, drawings, paintings, photographs, sculptures, computer software, databases, and architectural designs.

We shall focus more on patents; a patent is a contract between the government and an inventor. In exchange for the disclosure of the invention, the government grants the inventor exclusivity, regarding the invention, for a specified amount of time. The normal time duration is between 14 and 20 years.Patent protection means an invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed or sold without the patent owner’s consent.

To be patentable, the invention must satisfy basic requirements. These are:

• Novelty – The invention must be new and not known in the body of existing knowledge.  This body of existing knowledge is called the “prior art”.
• Inventiveness – It must show an inventive step and be non-obvious to an ordinary person skilled in the field of knowledge,  and
• Industrial applicability – It must be capable of industrial application (usefulness).

In addition, the subject matter of the patent must be accepted as “patentable” under law.

In many countries, scientific theories, mathematical methods, plant or animal varieties, discoveries of natural substances, commercial methods or methods of medical treatment (as opposed to medical products) are not generally patentable.

NIPRISAN™

A case study of this is with the patent for NIPRISAN™.NIPRISAN™ is a herbal formulation for the management of sickle-cell disease(SCD), developed by indigenous researchers at the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Abuja, Nigeria. The patent for the formulation was filed on the 21^st of January 1997 with the Office of the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, United States of America. The patent was approved in September 1998 with US Patent No. 5,800,819.

NIPRISAN, as claimed in the patent, is a herbal mixture extract, formulated from parts of four different indigenous plants (Piper guineenses seeds, Pterocarpus osun stem, Eugenia caryophylum fruit and Sorghum bicolor leaves) and an inorganic material mixed at specific ratios which has been shown to be safe and effective in the management of sickle cell disease, during a phase 1 and subsequent Phase 2 clinical trials.

The patent was filed for the process of formulating the preparation and not for the plants themselves as plants are not patentable by law.

FILING A PATENT

Patents are usually filed by patent lawyers, patent agents or patent consultants.  A typical patent application has to be filed with a patent office.  The fees charged by the patent office are usually not high. It is also normal to pay slightly more for the lawyer or agent who drafts the patent application. A maintenance fee is also paid at designated times within the life course of the patent; the same applies for trademarks.

In Nigeria, an application for patent is typically filed with the Registry of Trademarks, Patents and Designs, Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment.  Once the application meets the formality set forth by statute, a patent certificate is issued in due course to the inventor or assignee.  As noted above, an application for patent protection can and may be prepared by attorneys or agents.

A patent application must contain a complete history and description of the invention as well as claims for its usefulness. In general, the application is divided into;

• Title and Indication– this contains the background, novelty and indication of the technical field of invention.
• Description of invention – detailed description of the invention with drawings if available. This will include engineering specifications, materials, components and any other process that are vital to the actual making of the invention.
• Claims – this is the most important part of the application as it categorically states what the inventor is trying to patent. It is also the basis for determining infringements.

In Nigeria, patents are issued on a first-to-file basis and, when a patent is filed, an application number is given before approval. Once the application process is complete and filed, the status of the invention is subjected to the review and the applicant can assert a “patent pending” designation, implying that an application for patent protection has been filed on the subject invention. This status provides protection for the applicant until the application is approved or denied. On approval, a patent notice is published and is made available to the public for review.

The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) – with over 100 participating nation states – was established to allow patent filing in multiple countries to be made in one office rather than filing in each separate country. A patent that provides protection in a particular country can be transferred to a different nation upon application to the relevant body.