.Cautions against bad handling, transport of medicines
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has confirmed Deleject Disposable Needles safe for use.
It said that the particular Delegect Disposable Needle batch being complained about may have been compromised or improperly handled during transportation, storage or distribution.
The agency said the clarification was based on an investigation into a complaint of which particulate matter in one batch, saying there is no evidence of any manufacturing defect or safety risk associated with the products currently in circulation.
It also clarified its earlier Public Alert No. 042/2026 on Deleject Disposable Needle, Batch No. 240605, saying it was published on its website in error and should be disregarded.
The agency urged distributors of drugs and other medical products to ensure that regulated products were transported in appropriate vehicles and stored under recommended conditions.
The Director of Post Marketing Surveillance, NAFDAC, Bitrus Fraden, who spoke to journalists yesterday in Abuja on the matter said investigations into the complaint did not establish any non-conformity with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) requirements at the manufacturing facility.
According to him, the complaint was lodged by a pharmacist, Jiyah Dadi, whose pharmacy is located at No. 1, Aliyu Turaki, Off Isa Kaita Road, Malali, Kaduna, after purchasing the affected Deleject syringes from Zagbayi Pharmacy, Calabar Road, Off Kano Road, Kaduna.
Fraden said NAFDAC traced the product through the distribution chain to the manufacturer, HMA, where the agency conducted an investigation and root-cause analysis.
He said the investigation found that all manufacturing procedures had been followed and that analysis of the manufacturer’s retention sample revealed no misconduct.
“Yes, the complaint came from a pharmacy called Jiyah, and Jiyah told us that he purchased that product from Zagbayi. We went to Zagbayi, and Zagbayi said yes, he was supplied by the company. But going back to the facility where this was produced, all the procedures, all the steps were followed, all root-cause analyses were done, and we couldn’t place any error coming from that site,” Fraden said.
Fraden said NAFDAC also conducted nationwide surveillance of Deleject Disposable Needles following the Kaduna complaint but found no similar reports from other parts of the country.
“A nationwide surveillance was conducted on this same product, and we discovered it was not widespread. It was just that incident that happened in Kaduna,” he said.
He explained that the affected products from the distributor and pharmacy were mopped up after the complaint, adding that the agency acted cautiously because laboratory analysis had confirmed a problem with the particular product reported.
“It is better for us to act on the side of caution than to allow that to go on to affect lives,” he said.
Fraden, however, said the investigation did not establish a specific violation that could warrant sanction against the distributor.
He stressed that NAFDAC’s position was not intended to protect the manufacturer, saying the agency would have disclosed any manufacturing fault had its investigation established one.
“We are not doing this because we want to protect the company. If there was a problem, I assure you, we would have given you that clearly. We would have told you that we traced it to the facility,” he said.
Fraden further explained that the problem could have occurred somewhere along the distribution chain, noting that a product manufactured in compliance with GMP requirements could still be compromised if improperly handled during transportation, storage or distribution.
The NAFDAC director said the incident had highlighted the importance of proper handling and transportation of regulated products, warning that products of high quality could become compromised if exposed to inappropriate storage or transportation conditions.
He disclosed that NAFDAC was strengthening its track-and-trace syst