Registered drugs in Trinidad and Tobago: the new public database

A gap exposed in Parliament

On 26 January 2026, during a Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) inquiry into the State's pharmaceutical purchases, the chairman, Jagdeo Singh, pressed the Chemistry, Food and Drugs Division (CFDD) of the Ministry of Health on a basic question: where can a member of the public see which drugs are approved for import? "So there's no one single portal which any member of the public wishing to import pharmaceuticals can go to," he said¹. The Chief Chemist and Acting Director, Hasmath Ali, agreed: "There's no comprehensive list on any portal where the public can go"¹.

Ali explained the scale: "The total number of drugs registered in Trinidad and Tobago to date exceeds 21,000 drugs"¹. The records sat in four databases on one server (general and controlled drugs, narcotics, antibiotics and pesticides), and he said a system was "almost ready to be published within this first quarter of the year"¹.

The portal launched in March 2026

The Ministry delivered on 4 March 2026 with the Regulated Medicines and Substances Portal, giving public access to more than 10,000 drugs approved for use in the country². Listings give details such as the registered drug name, manufacturer and regulatory category (antibiotics, narcotics, controlled drugs, Third Schedule drugs, veterinary products and non-prescription medicines)²³. "This launch is not just about technology, it is about confidence, transparency and partnership," said the Health Minister, Dr Lackram Bodoe². The president of the Pharmacy Board of Trinidad and Tobago, Ricardo Mohammed, welcomed the initiative, saying it looked promising for drug regulation, and the deputy comptroller of the Customs and Excise Division, Nisha Ali, said it "would be of great benefit"².

What a listing means, and what it does not

The portal is informational. The Ministry says users "should not rely on this database as a substitute for formal regulatory advice"³. The legal framework is still the Food and Drugs Act, Chapter 30:01. Section 25 allows regulations for a register of approved new drugs and for import licences; section 26 lets the Minister establish a Drug Advisory Committee to advise on drug standards, schedules and conditions of sale; section 22 lets inspectors examine customs entries and refuse to admit drugs whose sale would break the Act⁶. The CFDD's Drug Registration Unit accepts new-drug applications on behalf of the Drug Advisory Committee⁴. Its notice to importers sets a TT$750 fee per drug and lists the reference authorities the CFDD relies on to speed approval, such as the EMA, the US FDA, Health Canada and the MHRA for biologics and large molecules, adding that the DRU does not act as a consultant and that ensuring the dossier is accurate and complete is the importer's or distributor's responsibility⁵.

The portal also defines the categories physicians deal with every day. Third Schedule drugs "may be supplied only on the authority of a valid prescription issued by a physician, dentist, or veterinarian"; deregistered drugs are "no longer approved by the Ministry of Health for use, sale, importation, or distribution"³.

Why the list matters: the enforcement record

The database answers a long-standing problem. In May 2024 the Chief Medical Officer told the PAAC that the Ministry had inspected 280 pharmacies between February 2023 and April 2024, found 45 with unregistered or expired products and referred 24 to the police; 23 drugs were then waiting for registration⁷. In January 2025 the Ministry's legal adviser, Mala Kowlessar-Tagaille, said: "Right now, the Ministry of Health has made 84 referrals of breaches", with no one charged at that point⁸. The same month the Ministry said Ozempic had not been registered because Novo Nordisk's local distributor had not applied, although a generic version had been submitted⁹. In February 2026 the CFDD warned about falsified Wegovy tablets, a product with no local authorisation¹⁰. And in May 2026 a police-led multi-agency operation, supported by Customs, in south Trinidad seized unregistered pharmaceutical and supplement products from a supermarket¹¹.

Without a public list, none of these cases was easy for a pharmacist, a customs officer or a physician to check at the counter. With it, the first question (is this product registered?) takes a search.

The bigger picture

The World Health Organization estimates that at least 1 in 10 medicines in low- and middle-income countries is substandard or falsified¹², and it advises buying medicines only with prescriptions from licensed physicians and avoiding unverified sources, especially online¹³. A searchable register is one of the simplest defences. It also feeds the parallel debate over the pharmaceutical supply chain, raised before the PAAC, where private pharmacy owners and a major distributor disagree over market concentration¹⁴.

What it means for practice

Before prescribing or discussing a product a patient brings in, a physician can now check whether it is registered and in which category²³. An unregistered product, such as the falsified Wegovy tablets flagged in February 2026, is not a legal option in Trinidad and Tobago, whatever the seller claims³¹⁰. The CFDD publishes a form for reporting substandard or falsified products and adverse drug reactions⁴.