TAIPEI, TAIWAN – The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Thursday that the controversial ingredients in Taiwan’s latest counterfeit drug scandal had come from mainland China.
During a meeting of the Legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung was asked to name the company that supplied the ingredients used in lipid-lowering drugs charged with being counterfeit.
Chen struggled to name a company and went on to say he could not name it because “the source of the ingredients was mainland China.”
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Liu Chien-kuo, who had questioned him about the source, asked whether the source had supplied ingredients to other companies in Taiwan for the production of “fake drugs.”
The health minister replied only that “authorities are considering paying a visit to China as part of their investigation.”
Prosecutors have refused to confirm or deny the minister’s statement that mainland China was the source of “fake drug” ingredients, saying only that they were “working on identifying other downstream manufacturers and the whereabouts of drugs that have already entered the market.”
Responding to criticism that health authorities have been slow to address the drug scandal, Chen said Thursday that he “did not plan to punish anyone.”
He defended his ministry, saying it had acted “appropriately and without hesitation” since the first batch of counterfeits was found last Thursday.
Anti-counterfeit Measures
So far, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified two fake drugs on the market – both counterfeit versions of Crestor with batch numbers MK479 and MV503.
Given that the FDA has been unable to confirm exactly how many batches of fake Crestor drugs have entered the market, the drug’s maker – pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca – announced a recall of all Crestor drugs in a joint effort with the FDA on Tuesday.
Two Taiwanese suspects, Pan Li-wu and Pan Chun-ta, who allegedly manufactured and sold the MV503 Crestor drugs, were taken into custody Monday and are being investigated over their involvement in the fake MK479 drugs.
Starting Thursday, patients with Crestor drugs, counterfeit or not, can get them replaced with new Crestor drugs at local pharmacies and hospitals that have partnered with AstraZeneca Taiwan, the company announced online.
The new Crestor drugs have anti-counterfeit labels and are distributed to pharmacies and hospitals by AstraZeneca Taiwan’s logistics partner.
The anti-counterfeit label is the word “EXCHANGE” printed on the opening of the drug’s packaging, the company said.
