Pharmacy and Poisons Board Kenya: how to verify a medicine or pharmacy

What the Pharmacy and Poisons Board is

The Pharmacy and Poisons Board describes itself as the drug regulatory authority set up under the Pharmacy and Poisons Act, Chapter 244 of the Laws of Kenya. It regulates the practice of pharmacy and the manufacture of, and trade in, drugs and poisons. Its headquarters are on Lenana Road in Nairobi.

PPB covers more than tablets and syrups. Its website lists the products it regulates:

• Medicines
• Vaccines and biologicals
• Blood and blood products
• Medical devices and in vitro diagnostics
• Cosmetics
• Food supplements
• Herbal and complementary medicines

What PPB does

PPB's regulatory work falls into a few areas. In plain words, the Board:

• Registers products and grants marketing authorisation
• Licenses pharmacists, pharmaceutical technologists and pharmaceutical premises
• Inspects pharmaceutical premises
• Approves and oversees clinical trials
• Watches medicines already on the market, through market surveillance and pharmacovigilance
• Tests products in its own laboratory, including suspect and falsified products

How to verify that a medicine is registered

PPB publishes a Public View of Registered Products on its products portal. Anyone can open it in a phone browser.

1. Open the Public View of Registered Products page.
2. In the search panel, leave the field set to All fields, or pick trade name or registration number.
3. Type the brand name or the active ingredient printed on the box, then tap Go.
4. Open the record that matches your medicine.
5. Compare the record with the box: trade name, active ingredient, dosage form, the company that holds the authorisation, and the local technical representative.

Each record also shows the registration number, the country of origin, the date of registration and the date of expiry. Registration numbers on the list look like H2026/CTD13524/29700. If the expiry date of the registration has passed, ask the pharmacist about it before you take the medicine.

The same portal has separate lists for medical devices, food supplements and herbal medicines.

A matching record tells you the product was registered. Counterfeiters copy the names and boxes of registered medicines. Look at the batch number too.

How to verify that a pharmacy is licensed

In July 2026, PPB's chief executive, Dr Ahmed I. Mohamed, wrote in The Star that you should verify a pharmacy through PPB's Facilities Register before you buy medicines there. The register sits on PPB's online services portal.

1. Go to practice.pharmacyboardkenya.org/LicenseStatus.
2. Under Select Cadre/Type, choose Search Facilities.
3. Type the pharmacy's name, or its registration number if you have it, and tap Search Register.
4. Open the result and compare the name and location with the pharmacy in front of you.

You can also browse the lists. View All Facilities Register splits premises into hospitals, retail, wholesale and manufacturers. The same page lets you search for a pharmacist (Search Pharmacist) or a pharmaceutical technologist (Search PharmTech).

PPB premises licences carry a QR code. In August 2026, PPB told Citizen Digital that you can scan the QR code on a pharmacy's licence with your phone to confirm the pharmacy is licensed.

The portal says its public data is for information only and may not be accurate or current. If a pharmacy is missing from the register, call PPB on +254 709 770 100 before you decide.

What a falsified medicine can look like

A falsified medicine pretends to be a product it is not, and it can look almost the same as the real one. Two PPB alerts show what to look for:

• In April 2025, PPB named falsified Augmentin, an antibiotic, in batches 8X3K and EU7C. The same alert found a strip of levofloxacin tablets inside a box of S-Prazo esomeprazole capsules, batch SPZ404.
• In October 2025, PPB named a falsified batch of Avastin (bevacizumab 100 mg), a cancer medicine. Batch H0573B01 was falsely presented as made by Roche.

In both cases the batch number was the key detail. Search PPB's safety alerts and its recalls and withdrawals page for the product name on your box. If an alert names your batch, do not use the medicine. In its April 2025 alert, PPB asked for affected medicines to be returned to the nearest health facility or to the supplier.

Other warning signs:

• The medicine has no record in the Public View of Registered Products.
• The record names a different dosage form, strength or company from the one on your box.
• The pharmacy does not appear in the Facilities Register, or has no licence on display.
• The box, the leaflet or the tablets look different from the ones you usually get.

For more signs, read how to identify fake drugs and how to read batch numbers and expiry dates. Some companies protect their products with anti-counterfeiting methods. You can verify a product protected with Batach with your phone at batach.io/scan.

How to report a suspected falsified medicine

PPB runs the Pharmacovigilance Electronic Reporting System (PvERS) for reports of poor-quality medicines and side effects. Keep the medicine and its box, then use any of these channels:

• Report online through the PvERS public portal.
• Use the mPvERS app on Android or iOS.
• Call 0795 743049.
• Email pv@ppb.go.ke.
• Send a complaint through ppb.go.ke/complaint.

PPB launched mPvERS in April 2022. You can use it to report suspected poor-quality medical products, side effects of medicines and vaccines, medication errors and problems with medical devices. If you took a medicine and felt unwell, report that too, and see a health worker.

Falsified medicines are not only a Kenyan problem. For the wider picture, read what the evidence says about fake medicines in Africa. If you are in Uganda, read the guide to the National Drug Authority.