By  Cecilia I. Igwilo

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THE occasion of the 2016 commemoration of the World Pharmacists’ Day (September 25) provides Nigeria yet another opportunity to ponder the progress so far made in the pharmaceutical sector and in the spirit of the injunction of President Buhari to “think outside the box,” examine the opportunities that the pharmaceutical sector can possibly avail an ailing economy like ours. We will attempt to do so in this article by beaming our searchlight at that long-abandoned aspect of our lives: research and development, specifically pharmaceutical research and development.
Pharmaceutical research and development involves identifying substances that can be valuable at providing relief from diseases (medicinal substances) or in the development of the formulation in which the drug can be conveniently administered (drug excipients such as pharmaceutical grade starch and lots of others).  These substances may be either of natural or synthetic origin.
The origins of pharmaceutical research in Nigeria date back to the late 1950s and early 1960s. This era also coincided with the establishment of Nigeria’s first Pharmacy Schools. It  also witnessed the debut of pharmaceutical manufacturing plants in Nigeria, as several multinational drug firms began to set up manufacturing operations in the country. Many of the early researchers, therefore, must have hoped that some of the outputs of their research, products that showed remarkable promise whether as new drugs for combating diseases or as components to be used in the drug manufacture process (excipients) would eventually be “adopted” by the pharmaceutical manufacturing companies and perhaps commercialized and manufactured on a large scale to help bring relief to mankind.
Years later this is yet to happen. Consequently, Nigeria is yet to benefit from the enormous human resources brimming with immense innate energy and drive as well as the natural and material resources that abound in the country. We can only imagine the massive economic multiplier effect that can possibly accompany a vibrant research-driven pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria. Such an industry will drive the creation of tens of thousands of jobs in the core pharmaceutical area but also in sundry affiliated industries from agriculture to logistics to packaging, printing, real estate and even advertising and marketing. Can we imagine for instance, how much Nigeria could stand to gain from encouraging the growth of say cassava and its local processing to obtain pharmaceutical grade starch, which is used in drug manufacture? Cultivation of this singular item to generate just one item in the pharmaceutical value chain could help to churn out thousands of jobs in the agricultural sector. Apart from creating these jobs, the savings of millions of dollars hitherto expended on the importation of pharmaceutical grade starch could be instead channeled towards more useful areas, such as research and development.
The foregoing clearly shows that Nigeria certainly possesses the wherewithal to overcome its economic challenges. What is key is that in doing so, we must accord certain aspects of our lives priority. No society ever truly progresses if it does not accord learning and development a priority of sorts. This way, learning and development of which research is a key part, becomes meaningful and ultimately increasingly aligned with the needs and aspirations of society. There is, therefore, need to accord research considerably more attention than we currently do, because of among others, its potential to stimulate genuine progress in the society.
At the moment, despite the often harrowing difficulties in the environment, there is still a huge effort especially in our universities and research institutes to carry out pharmaceutical research. Often. However, these disparate researches are carried out in silos (or in virtual isolation), with individual researchers often unaware of similar researches ongoing elsewhere. There should, therefore, be a systematic collation of all scientific research efforts that are ongoing in the various tertiary institutions and research institutes with the aim not only of establishing collaboration but also guiding prospective researchers on the learnings of such researches to enable them build seamlessly on such researches. In this day of increasing pervasiveness of the Internet, this is a task that a central government co-ordination agency such as the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology can help to achieve with the collaboration of the Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy and possibly the Nigeria Academy of Science.
Drug manufacturing companies – be they multinational or indigenous – as well as research institutes and tertiary institutions can also be challenged with specific national priority projects to be completed within a specific time frame. Such a drive will stimulate these institutions to battle for the fame and recognition that come with being acknowledged as a leader in research. Incentivising such a scheme with a tangible reward which could range from monetary awards to the provision of additional research equipment for these institutions would also be pivotal at helping to drive the success of such a scheme.  Legislation should also be employed as a tool to steer the country on the path of research and development. For instance, legislation could be such that compels drug manufacturing outfits to support industrially-relevant research to pilot-scale level.
Prof. Igwilo is Chair of the Education Committee of the Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy