12,000 Unregistered Medicinal Products Seized

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 9 (Bernama) -- The Health Ministry seized 12,169 unregistered products valued at more than RM9.5 million last year including 4,575 traditional products worth RM4.9 million, said Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek.
He said the seizures were made during regular checks by enforcement officers at premises that sold these medicinal products to ensure they were registered with the ministry's Drug Control Authority.
The ministry also carried out market surveillance on registered products and took random samples for testing to prevent any deviation from the specified standards after registration.
Products that failed to meet the specified standards would be recalled from the market and their registration might be cancelled.
"Last year, out of 725 samples taken for analysis, 81 products failed the laboratory analysis. Of these, 56 products were recalled from the market for exceeding the limits for heavy metals or microbial content," he said at the launch of the Power Root Ambassador and Secondary Broadcast Sponsors of this year's World Cup football championship at Seri Kembangan near here Thursday.
He reminded all manufacturers to be responsible for their products.
The manufacturers should focus on the use of safe and permissible ingredients, compliance with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and use of appropriate packaging and monitoring of adverse reactions.
"Quality control ingredients and products, from raw materials to finished goods, should be carried out in accredited laboratories using approved methods and procedures," he added.
Dr Chua said as of December 2005, there were 148 GMP-certified traditional product manufacturers in the country.