Medicine recalls
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| Recall of 3 pharmaceutical products: Alfex-180 Tablet (100's), Frelet- 75 Tablet (30's) and Melocam Tablet 7.5mg (1000's) |
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The Department of Health (DH) today (November 24) endorsed a licensed drug wholesaler, Leon Medical Supplies Limited (Leon), to recall all batches of Alfex-180 Tablet with pack size 100 tablets , Frelet -75 Tablet with pack size 30 tablets and Melocam 7.5mg tablet with pack size 1,000 tablets from shelves due to the above mentioned pack sizes are unregistered.
During the DH's market surveillance, samples of the above pharmaceutical products were collected for analysis and examination. It was found that the collected samples were not registered. The above three products are registered in Hong Kong (Alfex-180 tablet, registration number: HK-54364; Frelet-75 tablet, registration number: HK-54952; Melocam 7.5mg tablet, registration number: HK-56016) but only the above pack sizes are unregistered. Since the supply of unregistered pharmaceutical product contravenes the Pharmacy and Poisons Regulations (Cap. 138A), Leon recalls the unregistered products from the market. DH's investigation is continuing.
According to the Pharmacy and Poisons Regulations, sale of unregistered pharmaceutical product is an offence and the maximum penalty upon conviction is a fine of $100,000 and 2 years' imprisonment.
Frelet -75 Tablet containing clopidogrel and Melocam 7.5mg tablet containing meloxicam are both prescription medicines for the treatment of heart disease and pain respectively while Alfex-180 Tablet containing fexofenadine is a Part 1 poison for the treatment of allergy. According to Leon, the products have been supplied to private doctors and local pharmacies.
So far, the DH has not received any adverse reaction report in connection with the affected products.
Leon has set up a hotline (3996 8970) to answer related enquiries. The DH will closely monitor the recall. |
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