Other safety alerts
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| Canada: Fake Cialis and Viagra seized from Bitco Distribution in Ontario |
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Health Canada announces that it has seized counterfeit Viagra and Cialis from Bitco Distribution in Mississauga, Ontario. While Bitco was unable to identify the retail locations that received the counterfeit products, Health Canada reported that distribution was limited to retailers in Southern Ontario (including the Greater Toronto Area, Mississauga, Hamilton, Niagara Falls, Waterloo).
The affected products are counterfeit Cialis, 20 mg tadalafil tablets, expiry April 2028, lot 05668, and counterfeit Viagra, 100 mg sildenafil tablets, expiry 1 March 2026, lot: 07R0064A, NDC 0069-4220-30.
Although the Viagra products include a National Drug Code (NDC), which might lead retailers to believe that this product was authorized in the United States, the manufacturer has confirmed that the product is counterfeit. The manufacturer of Cialis has also confirmed that the seized product is counterfeit.
Selling counterfeit health products in Canada is illegal. Counterfeit drugs are made to look like authentic products, but they are not the same and may pose serious health risks. They have not been assessed by Health Canada for safety, efficacy and quality and may contain no drug at all,
a higher dosage than shown on the label, and dangerous contaminants and hidden ingredients.
Like the authentic version, the counterfeit products are labelled to contain the prescription drug sildenafil or tadalafil. Sildenafil and tadalafil should be used only under the supervision of a health care professional. They should not be used by people taking any kind of nitrate drug (e.g., nitroglycerin) as they can cause potentially life-threatening low blood pressure. People with heart problems are at increased risk of cardiovascular side effects such as heart attack, stroke, chest pain, high blood pressure and abnormal heartbeat. Other possible side effects include headache, facial flushing, indigestion, dizziness, abnormal vision, and hearing loss.
Consumers should immediately stop using and safely dispose of the product. Consult a health care professional (physician, nurse, pharmacist) if they have taken this product and have health concerns.
Please refer to the following website in Health Canada for details:
http://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/fake-cialis-and-viagra-seized-bitco-distribution-ontario
In Hong Kong, Cialis Tab 20mg (HK-51229) and Viagra Tab 100mg (HK-45577) are pharmaceutical products registered by Eli Lilly Asia, Inc. and Viatris Healthcare Hong Kong Limited, respectively. The products are prescription-only medicines. The blister and bottle packs of the fake products mentioned in the above Health Canada’s announcement are different from the registered sales packs of the products in Hong Kong.
Ends/Saturday, 10 Jan, 2026
Issued at HKT 12:00
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