BUSINESS DAY
Nigerians are now paying three times more for antibiotics formerly produced by the British pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), one year after its exit.
Prices of GSK’s signature products, Augmentin 228mg and 475mg, have skyrocketed by 307 percent and 328 percent respectively between August 2023 when the company left Nigeria and August 2024, BusinessDay’s market findings show.
Augmentin 228mg and 475mg cost N12,000 and N18,000 today as against N2,950 and N4,200 respectively in August 2023, findings show.
The price of Seretide inhaler, an anti-asthma product of GSK, jumped from N7,000 in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023 to as much as N70,000 in November of that year. It has now settled at N51,300, representing a 632 percent jump in price from N7,000 in August 2023.
The price of Amoxyl 500mg has jumped 3.5 times to N3,400 in August 2024 from N950 in the corresponding period of 2013.
However, Augmentin 625mg price has declined slightly, falling from N14,000 in August 2023 to N13,400 in the corresponding period of 2024.
The price of another anti-asthma product, Ventolin inhaler, has also dropped marginally from N9,100 to N8,700, due to increased supply by drug distributors across the country.
The general price hikes only capture half of the financial difficulty GSK’s exit poses on Nigerians, most of whom already grapple with strained pockets and weak purchasing ability.
Shortly after GSK announced its withdrawal from Nigeria and plans to rely on a third-party distributor, product shortages emerged as suppliers and retailers stockpiled goods, forcing up prices.
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