A health official on leave is causing a hold-up in the government’s response to counterfeit hepatitis medication.
The Food and Drug Administration said is waiting for approval to clampdown on the distribution of fake pills in the wake of a World Health Organization alert sent out at the end of February.
“We got information from the WHO and planned to respond quickly to this alert but we still do not have any permission from the health department of the Ministry of Health yet,” Dr Theingi Zin, director of drug control at the FDA, told The Myanmar Times.
She said the FDA wants to issue a public alert about the drugs through state media outlets.
“This is a really big issue because patients are buying and taking this medicine to help their disease but according to the WHO alert this medicine is fake,” she added.
The WHO warned hepatitis C patients to avoid the drug brands “Ledso” and “Dakavir”. The medications were packaged in bottles that listed the manufacturer as a pharmaceutical company named PHARCO based in Alexandria, Egypt. The company denied making drugs under either name or in the combination of compounds listed on the bottles.
The WHO said it was notified about the falsified drugs by a local NGO, but would not disclose the name of the organisation. The local group had directly contacted the Department of Essential Medicines & Health Products at the WHO headquarters to report the presence of fake drugs in Myanmar.
Dr Theingi Zin said that neither the counterfeit medicines nor the Egyptian pharmaceutical company are registered with health authorities in Myanmar.
“We think that if we check for this medicine at pharmacies we won’t find it. We believe it is being distributed privately through doctors, so it will be very difficult to discover the medication,” she said.
She added that the health authorities will have to approach healthcare professionals and large pharmacies to inform them about this fake drug and ensure they do not sell it.
When The Myanmar Times called the health department at the Ministry of Health about the plan to stop the fake drugs from circulating, an official said the relevant spokesperson was also on leave.
The Food and Drug Administration said is waiting for approval to clampdown on the distribution of fake pills in the wake of a World Health Organization alert sent out at the end of February.
“We got information from the WHO and planned to respond quickly to this alert but we still do not have any permission from the health department of the Ministry of Health yet,” Dr Theingi Zin, director of drug control at the FDA, told The Myanmar Times.
She said the FDA wants to issue a public alert about the drugs through state media outlets.
“This is a really big issue because patients are buying and taking this medicine to help their disease but according to the WHO alert this medicine is fake,” she added.
The WHO warned hepatitis C patients to avoid the drug brands “Ledso” and “Dakavir”. The medications were packaged in bottles that listed the manufacturer as a pharmaceutical company named PHARCO based in Alexandria, Egypt. The company denied making drugs under either name or in the combination of compounds listed on the bottles.
The WHO said it was notified about the falsified drugs by a local NGO, but would not disclose the name of the organisation. The local group had directly contacted the Department of Essential Medicines & Health Products at the WHO headquarters to report the presence of fake drugs in Myanmar.
Dr Theingi Zin said that neither the counterfeit medicines nor the Egyptian pharmaceutical company are registered with health authorities in Myanmar.
“We think that if we check for this medicine at pharmacies we won’t find it. We believe it is being distributed privately through doctors, so it will be very difficult to discover the medication,” she said.
She added that the health authorities will have to approach healthcare professionals and large pharmacies to inform them about this fake drug and ensure they do not sell it.
When The Myanmar Times called the health department at the Ministry of Health about the plan to stop the fake drugs from circulating, an official said the relevant spokesperson was also on leave.
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