Tyonex Nigeria Limited Focusing On Reproductive Health Research
Tyonex Nigeria Limited is focusing on manufacturing reproductive health drugs to help improve the public health situation in the country of Nigeria. The company’s Managing Director, Pharm Emmanuel Agba, praised the company’s progress, “With Tyonex proven track records in the delivery of qualitative pharmaceutical products and the experienced workforce, we are well positioned to create and add value to all Nigerians’ pharmaceutical needs.”
However, Tyonex’s new focus on research and development in the public health field comes just months after they were pressured by the country’s Ministry of Health to stop distributing their anti-retroviral (ARV) HIV drug, also named Tyonex, despite a contract between the state and the company. The Tyonex drug had been described as “dubious” and many even believed its effects increased the number of deaths from the disease.
One of the largest coalitions to protect HIV positive individuals in the country, Treatment Action Movement (TAM), released a statement on Tyonex, saying in part, “We humbly request that you use your good offices to ensure that Tyonex brands of ARVs are no more dispensed to our people in the ART [antiretroviral therapy] sites even though it has been recalled. We request that a Committee representing the various relevant interests be setup, with active consultation and participation of TAM, to investigate our observations about the Tyonex brand of ARVs.”
Nigeria has one of the worst HIV public health problems in the world, and treatment for those who are already infected is difficult to come by. Nigeria’s impoverished are too poor to afford high quality western drugs, so they often have to rely on products from companies such as Tyonex—which was not certified by the World Health Organization to sell HIV drugs at the time of distribution.
Sources:
http://premiumtimesng.com/news/153144-coalition-faults-nigerian-government-hiv-treatment.html