Materia Medica Malaysiana

Medicines Already In The Market Exempted From Hologram Sticker Rule

PUTRAJAYA, April 20 (Bernama) -- Locally-made and imported medicines already on the shelves are exempted from the hologram sticker regulation which comes into effect on May 1.
Parliamentary Secretary to the Health Ministry Lee Kah Choon said Tuesday operations would be conducted at pharmaceutical warehouses to ensure that valid hologram stickers were used on all products before they were distributed to the market.
"The ministry's move to enforce the use of the high security feature sticker is to overcome the problem of imitation medicines in the market," he added.
He said the imitation medicines were not only harmful for consumers but also affected the industry.
"This is our objective; it is not to give problems to anyone," he told reporters at the ministry.
Lee said the hologram stickers, supplied by Mediharta Sdn Bhd at 5.6 sen per piece, had three levels of security features, including a unique serial number which enabled the company to detect any abuse.
Lee said Mediharta Sdn Bhd would be held responsible should there be any incidence of fraud or abuse of the stickers.
"When we signed the agreement, we were assured by the company that the use of the sticker is the solution to the problem of imitation medicines," he added.
He said the use of hologram stickers would enable consumers to differentiate between genuine and imitation medicines.