In a move set to elevate the standards of Cameroon’s pharmaceutical and wellness industry, François Santé, the company behind the well-known “Bome François” product line, has entered into a pivotal agreement with the National Laboratory for Quality Control of Medicines and Expertise (Lanacome).
The signing ceremony took place on July 4, 2025, in Yaoundé.
The partnership formalises a commitment by Lanacome to ensure that François Santé’s products meet both national and international quality standards.
Under the agreement, Lanacome will oversee the certification process, ensuring that products designed and marketed by François Santé are safe for consumer use and produced in line with good laboratory practices and rigorous health risk management protocols.
“For François Santé, this agreement is not just symbolic, it’s strategic,” stated François Ekouma Ananga, CEO of François Santé. “François Santé is therefore committed to scrupulously respecting all the obligations contained in the agreement… to ensure its full success and the viability of the public-private partnership.”
The collaboration also opens avenues for ongoing training of François Santé’s personnel in areas including analytical methods, health safety, and regulatory compliance.
Taking the floor at the ceremony, Professor Rose Ngono Mballa, Executive Director of Lanacome, outlined the agency’s key missions. These include quality control of therapeutic products, cosmetics, traditional medicines, and food-grade substances.
Lanacome also ensures adherence to international standards in packaging, storage, and distribution processes of consumable goods.
Prof. Mballa used the occasion to issue a stern reminder of the need for proactive regulation in public health.
“Let’s not wait for the biscuits to kill, for example, people in a neighborhood or a village before we get up and look into why the biscuits killed,” she said.
“We have to take steps and make arrangements beforehand to prevent the population from being exposed to devastation.”
The agreement marks a turning point for François Santé, whose efforts to obtain formal certification had previously been stalled.
With Lanacome now on board, the company moves from simply placing products on the market to confidently offering certified health solutions that meet stringent quality benchmarks.
The initiative is also seen as a broader push to bridge gaps between Cameroon’s traditional medicine sector and institutional health authorities—an issue that has sparked debate among the country’s professional medical associations, including the National Order of Physicians and the National Order of Pharmacists.
As scrutiny increases over the safety and efficacy of widely consumed health products, this partnership may well set a precedent for responsible innovation and consumer protection in Cameroon’s growing wellness industry.
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