PSN: Digital Technologies Can Revamp Pharmaceutical Sector


Posted on: Fri 30-10-2020

The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), an umbrella association of all pharmacists in the country, has called for a more robust application of digital technologies in the pharmaceutical sector. Because application of digital technologies in the manufacturing, practice and regulation of pharmaceutical industry can diversify production, maximize productivity, create employment, and help to build a more robust pharmaceutical space for the benefit of all, PSN said it is necessary for the government to lead in developing revolutionary digitilisation of the sector.

Ahead of its forthcoming annual conference billed to hold in Osogbo,

Osun State capital, from November 9 to November 14, PSN President, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, said COVID -19 has altered the way many professions are practised. According to him, the conference, tagged ‘Omoluabi 2020,’ will be a hybrid conference, permitting physical participation on location and remote connection from all parts of the country and globe. Ohuabunwa added that the one-week conference will provide an opportunity for a convergence of great minds in the pharmaceutical industry, practice and regulation towards policy evaluation and practice rejuvenation for the coming year. Pharmacists will also use the conference as an opportunity to compare notes with colleagues in the diaspora, especially those from countries with robust and functional health care systems; just as it is a platform to showcase novel research findings, innovations, pharmaceutical products and health consumables.

“COVID-19 is disrupting the pharma industry, causing drug shortages around the world and exposing the need for a more resilient global supply chain. Digital technology could help change the sector and make global pharma production stronger and more resilient. Drug makers have experimented with new technologies to overcome the outbreak and its knockon effect on manufacturing,” he said.

The theme of the conference, “Technological revolution: Adaptation in pharmaceutical manufacturing, pharmacy practice and regulation," was said to have been carefully chosen to reflect the prevailing public mood at a time Coronavirus has brought about the new normal in virtually all human fields of endevour. To deliver the keynote address at the conference is Prof. Charles Okey Esimone, a distinguished academic who has pioneered research in the use of indigenous medicinal plants as immunomodulators, vaccine adjuvants and anti-infectives.

“COVID-19 is disrupting the pharma industry, causing drug shortages around the world and exposing the need for a more resilient global supply chain. Digital technology could help change the sector and make global pharma production stronger and more resilient. Drug makers have experimented with new technologies to overcome the outbreak and its knock-on effect on manufacturing,” Ohuabunwa said.

Source: nation