FDA/Tobinco Saga – NPP’s Agyarko exposed

The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayawaso West Wuogon, Mr. Emmanuel Kyeremateng Agyarko, who was also a former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the then Food and Drugs Board (FDB), now Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), has been badly exposed.

Mr. Agyarko has been criticizing the Food and Drugs Authority for being ‘unfair’ to the beleaguered Managing Director of Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Company Limited, Mr. Samuel Tobin, in the FDA’s efforts to protect Ghanaians from consuming injurious medicines imported by that company into the country.

He has been on a number of radio stations defending Tobinco and was among those who thronged the Nima Police station where Mr. Samuel Tobin has been under questioning.

Cherished readers of The Informer will be traumatized to realize that on two occasions, May 8, 2008 and July 8, 2008, Mr. Emmanuel Kyeremateng Agyarko signed letters ordering Tobinco to re-export Pharmaceutical products, which had been brought into the country without the necessary permit or approval.

On May 8, 2008, Mr. Agyarko, in a letter addressed to the Superintendent Pharmacist of Tobinco Company Limited, ordered that a total of 600,000 bottles of AMOQ SUSPENSION (Amodiaquine 125mg/5ml) imported from an Indian company, Ally Pharma Options Pvt Limited be re-exported.

The reason for the re-exportation and refusal of the country’s authorities for the drugs to be sold on the Ghanaian market, according to Mr. Agyarko, was that the importation contravened Section 18 of the Food and Drugs Law 1992 (PNDCL 305B) and its amendment act 523, 1996 after an evaluation by the then FDB.

“Your application has been evaluated and you are to note that the Board has suspended processing of applications for registration of Anti-malarial drugs as mono-therapies for malarial treatment in line with the new Anti-malarial Policy (Artesunate + Amodiaquine combination) in Ghana.

The Board can therefore not grant you approval for this import and you are therefore to re-export the products to the country of origin”, the letter states.

Mr. Agyarko, in a similar function or purpose on July 8, 2008, ordered the same Tobinco Company to re-export ALAXIN-20 SUSPENSION (Dihydroartemisinin 20mg/5ml) it had imported from Bliss GVS Labs, based in India.

So, it is, therefore, insincere on the part of Mr. Emmanuel Kyeremateng Agyarko, to suggest per his outburst on radio stations, as if the FDA under Dr. Opuni is doing something untoward to destroy the Tobinco Company.