Harvestfield Healthcare FZE has commenced commercial production of Synera DuoForte, a next-generation insecticide-treated nets in Nigeria, marking a new phase in the country’s capacity to manufacture a critical malaria prevention intervention locally.
In a statement, Harvestfield said it manufactures the nets under a manufacturing agreement with GDM Health Products, producing Synera DuoForte, a dual active ingredient long-lasting insecticidal net developed and owned by GDM.
It added that unlike conventional insecticide-treated nets that rely primarily on pyrethroids, these nets combine a pyrethroid with a second insecticide that works through a different mode of action.
‘The distinction is significant as mosquito populations across much of Nigeria have developed resistance to pyrethroid insecticides. While conventional nets can continue to provide a physical barrier, resistance can reduce their insecticidal effect,’ the statement reads.
It said dual active ingredient nets are designed to remain effective in areas where pyrethroid resistance has taken hold, and the World Health Organisation recommends this class of net for areas with established pyrethroid resistance.
Synera DuoForte is a WHO-prequalified product, developed and held under prequalification by GDM Health Products.
The Harvestfield manufacturing site in Ogun State is also included as an approved manufacturing location under that prequalification, and the facility is separately certified by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and ISO certified.
These standards provide the foundation for manufacturing nets for national malaria programmes and other health interventions requiring internationally recognised quality systems.
Jon Bastow, a representative of GDM Health Products commended the initiative, stressing that the product will help to tackle malaria.
‘GDM is pleased to strategically partner with Harvestfield to bring Synera DuoForte to Nigeria, the country with the biggest global malaria burden, and support the prequalification of Harvestfield’s Ogun State manufacturing facility to make Synera DuoForte,’ he said.
Commenting on the development, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, said building the capacity to manufacture indigenous health products is central to Nigeria’s health security.
‘A Nigeria-based facility producing next-generation insecticide-treated nets to international standard, and already supplying programmes across thirty-one states, is the kind of capability the Renewed Hope agenda was created to build,’ he said.
Commenting on the role of local manufacturing in strengthening Nigeria’s healthcare value chain, Dr Abdul Mukhtar, Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC), said: PVAC exists to move Nigeria from importing its health products to making them.
‘What matters is not only that a factory exists, but that it meets the standards international buyers accept and can supply at national scale. A facility based in Nigeria doing both is precisely the outcome this initiative was created to unlock,’ he said.