The world's premier innovative biopharmaceutical company, Pfizer, has reiterated the need for industry players to join forces in creating awareness around the dangers of counterfeit medicine and pharmaceutical products in Nigeria.

The country manager/cluster lead for West Africa, Pharmacist Olayinka Subair, made the call during a courtesy visit by the president of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Prof. Cyril Usifoh, to Pfizer's office in Nigeria.

Subair said the threat of counterfeits was not going away, adding that Pfizer was seeking collaboration with stakeholders on efforts to educate consumers about counterfeit medicines because patients need the knowledge to protect their health from counterfeiters.

"Counterfeit medicines often miss key ingredients and dosages or contain added, harmful ingredients. As a result, patients who take counterfeits, including life-saving medicines for cancer and heart disease, lose the therapeutic benefits they rely on to treat their conditions. To tackle the threat of counterfeits to patient health, Pfizer is collaborating with industry stakeholders to ensure patients have the information they need to avoid counterfeit medicines.

"Pfizer is seeking collaboration with government agencies, pharmaceutical organizations, doctors, pharmacists, and industry partners to help raise awareness of the growing problem of counterfeit medicines. Together, we seek to tackle this threat to patient health by stopping counterfeits before they reach patients, giving consumers information they need to make the right choices, and supporting health care providers in our communities," he assured.

Earlier speaking, PSN President, Cyril Usifoh, averred that PSN as a body, seeks to maintain a high standard of professional ethics and discipline among its members and would give all the support to work together with Pfizer, adding that, "We would see how we can amplify by reaching out to stakeholders and see how far we can go in driving this campaign successfully."