Pharmaceutical Industry Urged to Donate Short-Dated Drugs and Conduct Targeted Outreach for Chronic Patients

HARARE – Pharmaceutical companies, wholesalers, and regulators must collaborate to ensure that short-dated drugs, slow-moving stock, and products with damaged packaging are made available to vulnerable populations rather than being wasted, according to Professor Rudo Makunike-Mutasa. 

She called on wholesalers to consider donating such medicines, and urged regulators to "scan the environment" for opportunities to make good on drugs for epileptics, asthmatics, and Parkinson's patients, drawing attention to the expiry date issue that plagues the pharmaceutical supply chain.

The professor questioned whether expiry dates are magical, a ticking time bomb, poison, or simply an efficacy issue, referencing the SLEP (Shelf Life Extension Program) study which demonstrated that many drugs remain safe and effective beyond their labelled expiry dates under proper storage conditions. 

This scientific evidence, she argued, opens the door for a more nuanced approach to managing drug inventories and ensuring that medicines reach patients who desperately need them.

Professor Makunike-Mutasa described her personal journey from fear to action, detailing how medical outreach initiatives have evolved from simple screening and distribution of over-the-counter painkillers, flu remedies, and diarrhoea treatments to high-impact interventions including paediatric surgery, dental care, and optometry services. 

She emphasized that screening, defined by WHO as the use of simple tests in an apparently healthy population to identify individuals with risk factors or early-stage disease without symptoms, is a critical tool that pharmaceutical companies can support through their CSR programmes.

The benefits of meaningful CSR extend to all stakeholders, Professor Makunike-Mutasa noted, with customers gaining brand loyalty, employees achieving satisfaction and positive working environments, and management benefiting through team building. Her closing message was a call for collective action: 

"Together, we can," she declared, emphasizing that transparency, regulation, and integrity must guide all efforts to strengthen the pharmaceutical ecosystem's contribution to public health in Zimbabwe and beyond.