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01.10.2013 Health

FDA Strike Tobinco

By Daily Guide
The seized pharmaceutical productsThe seized pharmaceutical products
01.10.2013 LISTEN

This caution was given by the Regional Officer of the FDA, Roderick Daddey-Adjei in Ho last weekend, when his outfit destroyed hundreds of fake and unregistered products from Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Limited.

Tobinco which had imported and distributed various drugs and health products nationwide had most of its supplies recalled for evaluation and subsequent destruction to protect the health and safety of the public.

Mr Roderick noted that the FDA would not renege on its mandate and urged dealers in pharmaceuticals to do the right thing by registering their products with the authority for proper assessment to save the lives and future of the country.

Touching on the Tobinco incident; he said, a post market surveillance exercise conducted revealed that Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Limited had imported and distributed some fake and unregistered medicines onto the Ghanaian market.

Some of these fake and unregistered products had been supplied to regional medical stores, hospitals and pharmacies nationwide, which the authority immediately recalled in order to protect public health and safety.

'We want the general public to be wary of products from Tobinco, out of the over one hundred products in their warehouse, only seven are duly registered by the authority. The ware house where the products were being kept was also is not registered, as required by law, so we have closed it down,' Mr Daddey-Adjei added.

He also urged pharmacies and licensed chemical shops dealing in Tobinco products to be very cautious and contact the authority for the list of registered products periodically to update themselves and assist in curbing the menace.

Some of the pharmaceutical products destroyed include antibiotics, respiratory medicines with brand names like ''cough cold'' and 'hitman condom'' just to mention a few.

He said the products posed a serious threat to public health and safety since they had not been evaluated for their quality, safety and efficacy by the Authority.

He however assured the public that the FDA had withdrawn the fake and unregistered products.

Mr Daddey-Adjei also asked persons buying herbal medicines to look out for the FDA registration number and ''if you cannot see the registration number on the product, please do not buy it.''

He said the FDA would not renege on its mandate and urged those dealing in pharmaceuticals to do the right thing by registering their products with the authority.

The destruction was witnessed by the Volta Regional officer of the Environmental Protection Agency, Togbui Aklaku Ahorney.

 From Fred Duodu, Ho
 

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