The ministries of Health and Agriculture are in the process of creating the Kenya Food and Drug Authority, Health CS Sicily Kariuki has revealed.
The new agency will replace the Pharmacies and Poisons Board and will license food products.
KFDA will control food and medicines business as part of regional efforts to curb counterfeits and boost pharmaceutical manufacturing.
The authority is expected to tighten entry rules of food and medicinal products amid reports that up to 30 per cent of drugs in circulation are counterfeit.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya has however opposed the idea describing it as a ticking time bomb.
“The decision to combine the regulation of medicine and medical equipment and that of food, which is a completely different sphere, will water down the quality of regulation,” PSK president Louis Machogu said.
PSK has expressed fears the new agency will not cater for the needs of the market and does not have the interest of health professionals at heart.
The pharmacists instead want PPB's mandate expanded and strengthened, rather than lumping food and medicines under one regulator.
Machogu said other countries, including the US, are moving away from food and drug authorities as they have already seen the confusion such agencies bring.
