Three more sanitizer brands fail NDA quality tests

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The National Drug Authority (NDA) warns the public against the use of three sanitizer brands – Sanit, Vexesan and Sigma all locally manufactured for failure to meet quality standards.

According to David Nahamya, the Secretary to the Authority, the manufacturers have been asked to withdraw their products from the market immediately because they don’t contain the alcohol content required and therefore cannot offer any protection against disease-causing pathogens.

Testing of these products according to NDA was based on the recently adopted World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines which stipulate that sanitizers should have 80 percent of ethanol, diesel as well as hydrogen peroxide. The eight brands that passed efficacy tests conducted in the period between April 9 to 27 include Chamens, Princess, Avion, Zest, Covicid, Scoul Instant and Fresam.

The authority’s Principal Regulatory Official Brenda Kitimbo initially said that sanitizers were supposed to be categorized as drugs by NDA but with a surge in demand recently, they permitted other manufacturers including distilleries, cosmetic companies and academic institutions to increase access to those in need.

But this came with the challenge of fake products as they started getting complaints from users of the adverse effects they had suffered, something that made them conduct post-market surveillance for quality.

While registered sanitizer brands in the country were only four before the outbreak of coronavirus, they now have 68 manufacturers on the market. But of these, only 28 have so far been confirmed for quality. 28 others have failed the quality tests while 12 more brands have not yet been tested.

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