The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has warned that rising temperatures linked to climate change are increasingly threatening the effectiveness of medicines across the country.
The agency’s Director-General, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, raised the concern during the third anniversary celebration of the Institute for Advanced Medical Research and Training (IAMRAT) at the University of Ibadan.
Represented by NAFDAC’s Director of Laboratory Services (Drug), Inkem Ifudu, Adeyeye said maintaining drug quality throughout storage and distribution remains a major public health concern.
“The primary mandate of the regulatory body remains to safeguard public health by monitoring the distribution, use, importation, and exportation of medications, making the protection of active pharmaceutical ingredients from environmental degradation a front-burner issue for the agency.”
She explained that prolonged exposure to heat can weaken medicines, reducing their effectiveness and potentially leading to treatment failures. According to her, commonly prescribed antibiotics and several temperature-sensitive drugs are particularly vulnerable when storage conditions are compromised.
Speaking on cold-chain medicines, Adeyeye noted:
“The threat becomes even more catastrophic for life-saving cold-chain items like oxytocin, a vital hormone routinely administered to pregnant women during delivery.”
She warned that failure to maintain recommended temperatures could render such drugs ineffective and put patients at risk.
To tackle the problem, NAFDAC said it routinely monitors medicines in circulation through laboratory testing and enforcement actions targeting substandard or improperly stored products.
“This regulatory dragnet involves pulling drug samples randomly from various commercial tiers to analyze whether they still retain the chemical specifications outlined by their original manufacturers. Where anomalies, parallel importations, cloned variations, or adulterations are exposed, NAFDAC has aggressively pursued litigation, impounded compromised assets from open drug markets, and levied heavy financial sanctions against defaulting distributors and companies found wanting.”
The agency also urged Nigerians to buy medicines only from licensed pharmacies and avoid roadside vendors whose products may have been exposed to excessive heat.
Also speaking, Oyo State ACPN Chairman, Adebayo Ogundamosi, said pharmacists are spending heavily on electricity, cooling systems and alternative energy solutions to protect medicine stocks from extreme temperatures.
“Because average local room temperatures frequently surge past the ideal 25 degrees Celsius threshold required for drug stability, pharmacists are forced to function as independent local governments—generating their own electricity, sourcing water, and heavily investing in extensive air conditioning systems and aerated structural adjustments just to keep their inventory safe.
“With the astronomical cost of conventional fuel threatening to cripple these safeguarding measures, the ACPN is aggressively shifting toward solar energy partnerships and securing soft financial loans to acquire specialized, WHO-approved solar fridges, ensuring that the last mile of drug delivery does not become a graveyard for medicine potency.”
IAMRAT Director, Prof. IkeOluwapo Ajayi, also stressed the dangers of degraded medicines, noting that ineffective drugs can give patients false confidence while illnesses continue to worsen.
“This environmental degradation creates a dangerous illusion of healing while allowing illnesses to progress unchecked, a phenomenon she categorizes as treatment failure driven by a drop in the required quality and quantity of the active medicine.”