Fake Vitamins Sold In The Philippines

[Jollygoodfellow]

:o

 

Public warned against fake vitamins

 

 

MANILA, Philippines—Beware of fake vitamins sold online, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned the public in a statement.

The FDA said it was monitoring allegedly counterfeit Centrum and Centrum Silver advertised and sold in an online store Beeconomic Philippines, Inc., owned and operated by Groupon Philippines, an Internet company that sells discounted deals and coupons.

Centrum multivitamins are produced by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Consumer Healthcare (PCH).

In a recent investigation by the FDA and Pfizer, they dislcosed that the labels of Centrum multivitamins sold on the website differed from the labels required by the FDA.

The Centrum and Centrum Silver Centrum Silver Adults 50+ tablets in 300s and 200s, respectively, advertised on the Groupon site were discounted by 40-percent or from Centrums’ original price of P1,900 to only P1,149.

In the FDA Advisory No. 2013-043, it clarified that counterfeit products:

* Do not bear the FDA Certificate of Product Registration Number and do not contain the same formulation approved by the FDA;

* Do not carry the complete name and address of the manufacturer and/or distributor as required by the FDA.

* The font size of the generic name multivitamin + mineral is not in conformity with the labeling requirements of RA No. 6675, otherwise known as the Generics Law of 1988, which requires that the generic name should at least be one point size bigger than the brand name.

It added that “products are counterfeit as defined by Republic Act No. 8203, otherwise known as the Special Law on Counterfeit Drugs, and the said establishments are violating the provisions of Republic Act No. 9711, otherwise known as the FDA Act of 2009, which prohibits the manufacture, importation, exportation, sale, offering for sale, distribution, transfer, or retail of any drug product by any natural juridical person without the License to Operate (LTO) from the FDA.”

Although the FDA has not released official guidelines on the online selling and advertisement of pharmaceutical products, it warned the public from buying medicines through the internet until such time that the agency can assure “the safety, efficacy and quality of medicines sold through this medium.”

The FDA reiterated that consumers must always check the labels of the medicines they will purchase and advised them to buy medicines only from FDA-licensed establishments and outlets.

The advisory clarified that: “an illegitimate drug outlet is not supervised by a registered or licensed pharmacist and does not comply with proper documentation of all transactions in procuring and dispensing drug products. Documentation and traceability are vital to post-market surveillance and investigation of adverse drug reactions.”

Groupon Philippines could not be reached for comment.

 

 

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/510263/public-warned-against-fake-vitamins

[Papa Carl]

Lucky for me I already have my multi vitamins, and are taken daily,.... they are Ellie and Chiya, so no worries about being counterfeit or fake, believe me they work!

 

 

Papa Carl

[Mike S]

So I guess my question would be ..... what is the FDA doing about it BESIDES just warning people about this company ..... have they ordered them to stop selling the stuff ..... shut down their illegal operation or just waiting for the check from Groupon and then it's life as usual ..... but of course we will never here the rest of the story as with 99.9% of the news here in the Phils .... :thumbsup: 

:cheersty:

[Mike J]

So I guess my question would be ..... what is the FDA doing about it BESIDES just warning people about this company ..... have they ordered them to stop selling the stuff ..... shut down their illegal operation or just waiting for the check from Groupon and then it's life as usual ..... but of course we will never here the rest of the story as with 99.9% of the news here in the Phils .... :thumbsup:

:cheersty:

Being it is a Philippine company, I think there may be little the FDA can do other than warn the consumer,

[Call me bubba]

Now its FAKE VITAMINS,

in the past its been "FAKE GOLD" FAKE "BLUE PILLS "

BI/VISA STAMPS. Girlfriends , even FAKE RESORTS, I could continue....

this gives new meaning to

 

ITS MORE FAKE FUN IN THE PHILIPPINES

 

IT does seem that GROUPON is having some major problems

not full-filling its promises. not delivering or

just basic POOR yet Typical Philippine customer service,

to know more just "google".

 the good thing that may come out of this . Maybe this firm will clean up its act

and change for the better. As they do provide a unique service that is usually not available here

 

NOW HERE IS THE FDA advisory

 

FDA Advisory No. 2013-043 Public Warning on counterfeit Multivitamin + Mineral Tablets (Centrum and Centrum Silver of Pfizer Consumer Healthcare) Sold on-line by GROUPON Philippines

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has monitored counterfeit multivitamins + mineral tablets, Centrum and Centrum Silver of Pfizer Consumer Healthcare (PCH), that are being advertised, sold or offered for sale on-line thru Beeconomic Philippines, Inc.,

owned and operated by GROUPON Philippines.

The products are counterfeit as defined by Republic Act No. 8203, otherwise known as the Special Law on Counterfeit Drugs, and the said establishments are violating the provisions of Republic Act No. 9711,

otherwise known as the FDA Act of 2009,

which prohibits the manufacture, importation, exportation, sale,

offering for sale, distribution, transfer, or retail of any drug product by any natural juridical person without the License to Operate (LTO) from the FDA.

The investigation conducted by the FDA with the PCH revealed that the labels of the counterfeit Centrum and Centrum Silver products differ from the FDA-registered products:

 

a. The counterfeit products do not bear the FDA Certificate of Product Registration Number and do not contain the same formulation approved approved by the FDA.

 

b. The counterfeit products do not carry the complete name and address of the manufacturer and/or distributor as required by the FDA.

 

c. The font size of the generic name multivitamin + mineral is not in conformity with the labeling requirements of RA No. 6675, otherwise known as the Generics Law of 1988, which requires that the generic name should at least be one point size bigger than the brand name.

 

So far, the FDA has not yet issued any guidelines on on-line sale or advertisement of pharmaceutical products.

The FDA hereby warns the public from buying medicines on-line until such time that the FDA can assure the safety, efficacy and quality of medicines sold through this medium.

Consumers are advised to buy their medicines only from FDA-licensed establishments and outlets.

An illegitimate drug outlet is not supervised by a registered or licensed pharmacist and does not comply with proper documentation of all transactions in procuring and dispensing drug products. Documentation and traceability are vital to post-market surveillance and investigation of adverse drug reactions.

Consumers are further advised to check the labels of the medicines they are buying.

 

 

 

 http://www.fda.gov.ph/

 The FDA site seems to be a good reading as they mention some things that I not read on the news

[Mike S]

Being it is a Philippine company, I think there may be little the FDA can do other than warn the consumer,

 

Mike J .... I could be wrong (believe me I have been so before .... ) but i believe that the FDA they are talking about is the FDA here in the Phils ..... surely they have an FDA here else why would the US FDA be warning the people here ..... well I guess they could seeing as the Centrum and Centrum Silver is a US brand name .... all kinda confusing .... course I was told one time that the only medicines the Phils gets is outdated stuff from the US .... but I just can't swallow that line .... JMHO

:cheersty:

[Call me bubba]

but i believe that the FDA they are talking about is the FDA here in the Phils ..

 

the philippines has its own FDA .

here is the philippines FDA website.   

 http://www.fda.gov.ph/

[Dave Hounddriver]

i believe that the FDA they are talking about is the FDA here in the Phils

 

Perhaps the web site having ph at the end gave it away LOL