DrugXpert Blog

Sir Alex Ferguson was a coach at Manchester United club in London. He was regularly seen chewing gum on the touchline during his 26-year stint at Manchester United. So many people around the world wonder what is significant about chewing gum. A group of thought place it that it help him think fast during games. As a pharmacist, I am thinking in another dimension; medicated chewing gum (MCG). What Are Medicated Chewing Gum Medicated chewing gum are oral drug delivery system with extended release dosage form that provides a continuous release of medicine it contains. It was first launched in 1924 in the United States of America (USA) as aspergum. As oral dosage form gain wide acceptance, it soon spread to other parts of the world after world war II. Read Also :  Should You Brush Teeth Before Or After Food Medicated chewing gum are made with a tasteless masticatory gum base that consist of natural or synthetic elastomers. Currently, medicated chewing gums are available for pain relief...

Stealing is a big problem in community pharmacy. Burglars come at night to steal accessories and control drugs. Shoplifters target money, phones and expensive supplements. Staff can steal anything within their reach. Stealing by staff According to a survey, burglars and shoplifters account for about 55 percent of theft in a community pharmacy. You may be surprised to find the other 45 percent are from the pharmacy staff. That calls for great concern. Read Also :  How To Secure A Community Pharmacy Shop But with my experience in community pharmacy, the statistic may be flawed. This is because most theft carried out by shoplifters may be blamed on the staff. Maybe due to carelessness or when the thief was not found and the theft happens during the shift of a staff. Most staff that attempt to steal always succeed. This is because they know the security protocol of the pharmacy. Hence, they know how to bypass it and avoid getting caught. How Staffs Steal Cash Increase Selling Price The...

NAFDAC number All products including drugs must be registered with the national agency for food and drug administration and control (NAFDAC). This includes imported and locally made drugs. A registered drug is given a NAFDAC number. Read Also :  How To Identify Fake Drugs By Pharmacist And Public (MAS)  It is mandatory to include the number on each drug pack. The number starts with a two letter or a letter and a number prefix like 04, B5, A7, etc. It is followed by the dash sign (-). Then last four numbers like 9764. Two products can have the same NAFDAC number as long as it is from the same company having the same active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). In most cases, the two products have different excipients which mean one may have better bioavailability or other better attributes. A company is made to make another registration when the two products have different API. The reason for the introduction of NAFDAC number in 2001 by late Prof Pharm Dora Akunyili was to fight fak...

Tramadol is a strong painkiller. It's used to treat moderate to severe pain, for example after an operation or a serious injury. It's also used to treat long-standing pain when weaker painkillers no longer work. Tramadol Tramadol is an opioid analgesic and opioid activity is the overriding contributor to its pharmacological effects. Abuse and adverse events of tramadol are similar to those of other opioid analgesics. Read Also :  How Tramadol Abuse Is Silently Creeping Into Homes With Its Destructive Effects In Nigeria Tramadol has mild side effects when taken according to prescription. Tramadol may be habit forming, especially with prolonged use. Tramadol may cause serious or life-threatening breathing problems, especially during the first 24 to 72 hours of your treatment and any time your dose is increased. Typical daily dosage may be increased by 50 mg as tolerated every 3 days to reach 200 mg/day (50 mg 4 times a day). Some reported a maximum of 500 mg/day. The cheap opioid...

Every country has a list of banned drugs. Most of these drugs have been reported to have severe adverse effects. Some of these reports come from the manufacturing country. But on some occasions, the drug's negative effect may be discovered by the importing country like Nigeria. This post is not about the ban of excipients. There is no single list of ban excipients. Each product must contain a safe excipient. So products like 'my pikin' which was deregistered in Nigeria are not part of this list. My pikin is a baby teething mixture that was rumoured to have killed about 80 children. The killer component or compound is one of the excipients. The matter has dragged on in court since 2008 or thereabout. The teething mixture was not banned as any other company can produce it under generics. It was the company's product that was ban due to an error from their side. Read Also :  List Of Nigeria Prohibited Import Drugs In this post, we will look at all the drugs that have been ...

Community pharmacy is under attack in Nigeria. This is coming from fraudsters and thief's. I am not talking about those with arms. I am talking about those that come to play pranks. Customer stealing techniques Over the years, I have witnessed different methods used by these thief's in community pharmacies. They keep updating different methods. It is left for community pharmacies to invent different ways to crack down.on these thief's. Stealing Methods Use Distraction Techniques This is by far the most common method these people employ to steal. They are either here to steal expensive supplements, brand drugs, control drugs or cash. Read Also :  How To Secure A Community Pharmacy Shop No thief comes and steals without doing feasibility studies and market surveys. They must have come maybe to buy something as cheap as a paracetamol tablet. They observe the working of the pharmacy. When they strike, they will be asking for the price of several drugs. They do this to distract ...

Prohibited drugs from import Nigeria relies heavily on imported drugs. However, we have many pharmaceutical manufacturing industries in Nigeria producing arrays of pharmaceutical products for local consumption. Some Of these products have reached self-sufficiency level. In order to reduce the competition from foreign brands and encourage more production of pharmaceutical products in Nigeria, there is a ban on these drugs. Read Also :  Process Of Drug Registration And Importation With NAFDAC In Nigeria Prohibited Imported Drugs 1. Paracetamol tablets and syrups 2. Cotrimoxazole tablets and syrups 3. Metronidazole tablets and syrups 4. Chloroquine tablets and syrups 5. Haematinic formulations; ferrous sulphate and ferrous gluconate tablets, folic acid tablets, vitamin B Complex Tablets (except modified release formulations) 6. Multivitamin tablets, capsules and syrups (except special formulations) 7. Aspirin tablets (except modified release formulation and soluble aspirin) 8. Magnesi...

To open a community pharmacy, it must be registered with the corporate affairs commission (CAC) and the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN). PCN is the body responsible for the regulation and operation of pharmacy in Nigeria. Before a community pharmacy must be approved, it must meet PCN regulatory requirements. Location approval and facility inspection Pharmacy Inspection Checklist There are two inspections done by PCN for a new community pharmacy. They are the location approval popularly known as site approval and facility inspection known as second inspection. Location Approval (First Inspection) A new community pharmacy must apply to PCN for location inspection. There is a prescribed inspection and registration fee that is to be paid as a bank draft. The bank draft is given to the applicant with account details already printed, which is to be submitted back to PCN after making payment. Go to the PCN account office to convert the bank draft to receipt which is to be submitted with ...

Community Pharmacy Franchise The Nigerian International Franchising Association (NIFA) defines franchising as a business arrangement whereby the franchisor grants the franchise operator (the "franchisee") the right to distribute certain products or services in a particular way, at a particular location and for specified periods of time. In return, the franchisee pays the franchisor fees and royalties. Franchise Definition A franchise simply refers to a situation whereby you or any other individual or group pays money to a company to enable them to use the company’s name, brand, and trademark to do business. Examples of successful franchises in Nigeria include Chicken Republic, Domino Pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), NNPC, Best Western Hotels etc. Read Also:  Success Tips For Community (Retail) Pharmacy Practice However, the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion Act, Chapter N62, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 ("NOTAP Act") regulates t...

Community pharmacy is a shop where health services are rendered. It is the first health facility many sick people go to for solutions and healthy individuals visit for health advice. They make the money from sales of drugs and rendering of services such as minor laboratory investigations like blood pressure monitors. Profit in community pharmacy The business aspect is lucrative and profitable in Nigeria. However, the profit between two community pharmacies is not the same even if they make the same sales. Read Also :  The Cost Of Starting A Community Pharmacy At Different Location In Nigeria There is no standard mark-up for sales of products and rendering of services. Every community pharmacy uses their own mark-up. This affects how the profit for that center is compared to another. Another problem is that some community pharmacies don't even use mark-up. They just fix prices depending on their perception of the product or service and the community perception of it. Also the cost o...

PCN As a practicing pharmacist in Nigeria, there are fees you have to pay to the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN). They are service charges. PCN has made it simple and seamless when making such payments. They now use remita. Read Also:   Online Application For PEP (Pre Registration Exam For Pharmacist) How To Pay PCN With Remita Remita is a payment solution that helps individuals and businesses make and receive payment, pay bills and manage their finances across the board. It is very simple. There are two methods using remita which include PCN. Here is the process. A. New User 1. Log in to PCN Payment Management System (PMS) Portal using the url: http://payportal.pcn.gov.ng/ 2. The SIGN IN page is displayed. 3. Click on CREATE AN ACCOUNT below at the extreme end and fill in the necessary details. 4. Click on the SIGN UP button at the bottom of the page after filling the required information. A verification email will be sent to your email address. 5. Check you...

PCN meaning Back in school, PSN and PCN were confusing to us. It was difficult explaining what both mean and what their differences were. To add to it, the meaning of the two abbreviations was confusing. It was even easy to remember that PSN means the pharmaceutical society of Nigeria. When it comes to PCN, we had many blunders. Read Also :  Register Internship Job With Pharmacists Council Of Nigeria (PCN) PCN is the body that is responsible for regulation of pharmacy practice in Nigeria.It is a Federal Government parastatal established by Act 91 of 1992 (Cap P17 LFN 2004) charged with the responsibility for regulating and controlling Pharmacy Education, Training and Practice in all aspects and ramifications. Pursuant to this, the PCN is responsible for registration and licensure of all Pharmacists, Pharmaceutical Premises (Manufacturing, Importation, Distribution, Wholesale, Retail, Hospital Pharmacies) as well as issuance of Permit to Pharmacy Technicians and registration and Lic...

The Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) is a federal government board that is responsible for the regulation of the education of pharmacy students, pharmacists as well as drug and related products. It was established in the 90s. Read Also:   Function Of Units And Departments In PCN Office As a body, it sometimes enters into contracts with contractors in the fulfillment of its mandate. Some of them include building PCN structure, supply of equipment and tools for the office, supply of equipment for laboratory works and many others. To be able to partner with PCN, they set out guidelines for whoever wants to. This is made easy to enable seamless operation. Whenever PCN wants a contract, they can send out invites and the lucky binder gets the contract. If you are interested, this is for you. Guidelines How To Be PCN Contractor 1. Contractor's Registration form will be released upon payment of non-refundable fee of one Thousand Naira (₦1,000.00) only, in cash /bank draft to which the ...

Patent and proprietary medicine vendors (PPMV)popularly known as chemists are the most distributed supply of healthcare services in Nigeria. They can be found in almost every village and city. They are concentrated in villages where the services of community pharmacy are not easily accessible. Read Also :  Services Patent Medicine Vendors (Chemists) Should Not Render PPMV are regulated by the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN). Every ppmv must be registered with PCN before it can begin operations. And every PPMV must continually adhere to regulation as they are modified every time. PCN regulation of PPMV In addition to the licencing or registration, PCN have the mandate to monitor the activities of PPMV. They do this by going around periodically. Any PPMV that fails to keep to the regulation can be worn or sealed. They can only unseal it by doing the right thing and lifting the seal by visiting PCN. Pharmaceutical Inspectors The pharmaceutical Inspectors are a group of individual...

Patent Medicine Store A patent medicine store popularly known as a chemist is a store that stock and sell some over the counter (O.T.C) drugs. However, patent medicine stores are not supposed to be called chemist. Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (P.C.N) at such capacity approves them to operate within the shores of the country. Patent stores are managed, not by the pharmacist but by individuals who feel the need to serve the nation in such capacity. They are found in major villages where pharmacist stores are scarce. They also serve to augment the services of the pharmacist in towns and cities. This business is very lucrative and so the requirements are a little bit strict. The requirements to own one is similar within the country. However, the ability to keep up in the business may require a little knowledge on the drugs. Registration Of Patent Medicine Store The first step is to register with the National Association of Proprietary and Patent Medicine Dealers (N.A.P.P.M.D). Th...