The Court of Appeal in Accra has ordered Ghana’s Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to pay more than GH¢30 million in damages to Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Ltd following a long-running legal dispute over the confiscation and destruction of pharmaceutical products.
The unanimous ruling upheld an earlier High Court decision which found that the FDA unlawfully detained and destroyed Tobinco’s unexpired drugs, causing significant financial loss and reputational damage to the company.
According to the judgment, the court held that the actions of the FDA, under its then Chief Executive Officer, Dr Stephen Opuni, amounted to the tort of misfeasance in public office.
The court dismissed the FDA’s appeal in its entirety and affirmed the High Court’s award of damages and costs in favour of Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Ltd, including GH¢24,581,871.55 in special damages, GH¢5 million in general damages, and GH¢1 million in costs. An additional GH¢50,000 in costs was also awarded.
The dispute stems from events beginning in 2014, when the FDA confiscated pharmaceutical products imported by Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Ltd on grounds that they were allegedly unwholesome. The company later challenged the action in court.
In 2024, the High Court ruled that the destruction of Tobinco’s unexpired medicines without a court order was unlawful.
The court further found that the FDA’s actions, including the locking up of warehouses and public communications, contributed to the expiration and loss of products worth millions of cedis.
The court also declared unlawful the FDA’s directive prohibiting the sale of Tobinco products without an Executive Instrument from the Minister of Health, as well as similar restrictions imposed on Bliss GVS Pharma Limited.
It concluded that Tobinco did not import fake or substandard drugs and that the regulator’s actions caused substantial harm to the company’s operations.
The FDA has not yet publicly responded to the Court of Appeal’s latest ruling.
