The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has issued a warning to Nigerians, including healthcare providers, about a suspected counterfeit cancer drug, Phesgo.
The alert was published on NAFDAC’s website following a report from a doctor at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), who raised concerns after a patient brought in the product for administration.
According to the agency, the drug was not administered as it bore similarities to a previously reported counterfeit batch, C3809C51.
“The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) wishes to inform healthcare providers and the public of a report of a suspected counterfeit Phesgo® 600mg/600mg/10ml, labelled with batch C5290S20,” the statement reads.
The Marketing Authorisation Holder (MAH), Roche, received images of the suspected product instead of physical samples. These included parts of a Phesgo vial and a 10ml folding box. Roche compared the images to genuine samples and identified key discrepancies.
Roche’s investigation confirmed the counterfeit status of the batch due to differences such as missing batch information in the MAH database, language inconsistencies, absence of the basilisk symbol, incorrect bollino date, and tampered evidence labels that differed from authentic Roche materials.
