GHANA – The Drugs Laboratory at the Centre for Laboratory Services and Research (CLSR) of the Ghana Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has been awarded a WHO-Prequalified Quality Control Laboratory (QCL) Status, the Ghanaian government agency said on its website.
The regulatory agency announced that the Drugs Laboratory at the Centre for Laboratory Services and Research of the Ghana Food and Drugs Authority becomes the first laboratory to be approved within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sub-region.
With the certification, Ghana’s FDA is now the only food and drugs regulatory agency within the ECOWAS subregion to be recognized internationally as a competent institution that can test medicines and medical products under WHO auspices.
The FDA exist to ensure the safety, quality and efficacy of human and veterinary drugs, food, biological products, cosmetics, medical devices, household chemical substances and clinical trials, and the control of tobacco products through the enforcement of relevant standards to protect public health.
The Drugs Laboratory at the Centre for Laboratory Services and Research of the Ghana Food and Drugs Authority will now serve as a Regional Centre of Excellence and train other National Drug Regulatory Agencies in the sub region.
The FDA can fully participate in international tenders to analyze products that are to be procured by United Nations agencies while the Certificate of Analysis for locally manufactured medicines in Ghana shall receive international recognition thus boosting their permeation into the international market.
The Ghanaian regulatory agency explained that the FDA’s laboratory has become a key international player in the testing and verifying of Finished Pharmaceutical Products (FPP) to ensure international standards of safety, quality and efficacy.
“With the prequalified lab in Ghana, the African Continental Free Trade Area provides additional opportunity to Ghanaian pharmaceutical companies within the Africa market,” highlights the Ghana Food and Drugs Authority.
The regulatory agency explained that the Drugs Laboratory at the Centre for Laboratory Services and Research can test medicines and medical products under WHO auspices, adding that the results of medicines tested by the FDA will be acceptable to all countries.
Ghana’s FDA further said that the authority is in readiness and poised to provide effective regulation to support the national vaccine manufacturing agenda while ensuring access to quality, safe and efficacious vaccines and medicines for the nation and the African Continent.
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