The Ghana Food and Drugs Authority, has given COA Mixture, formerly of COA FS the accreditation to reproduce after months of suspension.
On the 10th of September 2020, the FDA gave the Centre of Awareness Global Peace Mission the market authorization to market COA Mixture as a herbal medicine for general wellbeing and not as food supplement.
Launching the product yesterday in the Central Region, the Chief Executive of the Centre Professor Samuel Ato Duncan Commended the chief executive of FDA Mrs Mimi Delese Darko and her team members who has been consistently with the research team throughout the restructuring of the factory to get it to the best of standards and to produce a good quality product. “We couldn’t have done it without the FDA”.
The event attracted dignitaries from several sectors, including officials of the Food and Drugs Authority, deputy central regional minister, chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Mr Freddy Blay, Nana Dr Appiagyei Dankawoso 1, among others.
According to Professor Samuel Ato Duncan, COA Mixture, formerly of COA FS is produced with the same ingredients but with much improved efficacy and potency.
“From 2005 to 2012, through scientific research, the product was developed and registered as a food supplement by the FDA in September, 2016. COA FS as it was affectionately called, gained both National and International recognition due to how it supported treatment of many diseases”.
“On the 10th of September, 2020, the FDA gave us market authorization to market COA FS as COA Mixture since it no more registered as a good supplement but a Herbal Medicine For General Well Being”, Prof. Ducan revealed.
It will be recalled that on the 8th of April, 2020, COA FS received a letter from FDA in relation to some contaminated products of theirs in the market. FDA directed that they recall all the products from the market.
The FDA subsequently suspended the Marketing Authorization Certificate of COA, following which production was put on hold to pave way for a major rehabilitation of the entire factory to correct the identified anomalies.
The company complied with the recall order and safely disposed of the said contaminated products under the strict supervision of the FDA and the police.
Subsequently, the company undertook millions of Ghana cedis worth of rehabilitation at the factory, with installations of state-of-the-art equipment to turn it into a fully-fledged research and manufacturing center.
FDA then issued COA with the necessary certificates and approvals indicating their satisfaction with all the measures taken since the suspension of production.
Firstly, FDA issued COA with a certificate to indicate it was satisfied with the safe disposal of the contaminated products. It then conducted a Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) assessment exercise at the factory in May, 2020 and issued a report indicating it was satisfied.
The FDA finally reviewed and approved a Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA) plan presented by COA, after which it conduced a GMP training for all COA RMCL staff.
It was after all the rigorous processes that FDA finally issued COA with a letter on September 10, 2020 revoking the suspension of production.
Since the product went of the market, some retailers hoarded a few and sold them at thrice the original prices. But as production is set to begin from the revamped state-of-the-art factory, the company assures Ghanaians and customers around the world that the price will soon normalize.
In a related development, the vision bearer behind COA Mixture, Prof. Samuel Ato Duncan has been honored yet a again with another professorial award by the Academic Union of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
The award, titled “Honorary Professor of the Academic Union, Oxford, UK” was presented to the Prof. Duncan on July 1, 2020, and only goes to show the global recognition he has gained for his commitment to world peace through medical research into cure for viral diseases and cancers.
Prof. Duncan was first awarded an Honorary Professor of Research by the Alfred Nobel University (ANU) in Ukraine at a ceremony in Accra, where several others, including President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo also received various categories of honorary awards.
The ANU award conferred on Prof. Duncan was in recognition of what the university described as “his extraordinary contribution to quality research”, particularly in the health sector.
