Duterte orders PNP to arrest manufacturer, peddlers of fake medicines

After the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) informed the public of counterfeited paracetamol being sold in the market, President Rodrigo Duterte directed the Philippine National Police (PNP) to nab all manufacturer and peddlers of fake drugs. (PCOO Photo)

After the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) informed the public of counterfeited paracetamol being sold in the market, President Rodrigo Duterte directed the Philippine National Police (PNP) to nab all manufacturer and peddlers of fake drugs.

“The President ordered the PNP chief to arrest persons who manufacture, import, trade, administer, dispense, deliver, distribute fake drugs, and charge them with economic sabotage,” Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said in a statement on Wednesday, March 28.

The President’s order came after the FDA warned the public that there were fake 500-milligram Biogesic paracetamol tablets spreading in the marketplace. The presence of these fake pharmaceutical products was verified by United Laboratories Inc. (Unilab), the market authorization holder of the drug.

Citing a 2011 study, Panelo said Filipino households allot almost half of the out-of-pocket or 46 percent medical expenses to medicines.

“Substandard and falsified medicines have become a global pandemic, impacting the safety of patients around the world,” he said.

“The purchase and use of the fake medicines, including fake paracetamol, poses potential danger and injury to consumers,” he added.

Aside from the health risk posed by these products, Panelo said that such act can “affect the supply and demand of such commodity, and thereby affect the stability of prices” and “weaken the national economy by hitting a large-scale industry.”

In the FDA’s public advisory, an individual can easily identify the fake drug as its tablet color, foil material, foil pattern, and printed markings are different from the authentic one.

“Consumers are reminded to purchase drug products only from FDA-licensed establishments,” the FDA stressed.

All establishments and outlets were also informed against the distribution of the verified fake medicines.

The FDA noted that the importation or offering for sale of these products is in direct violation of Republic Act 971 or the Food and Drug Act of 2009, and Republic Act 8203 or the Special Law on Counterfeit Drugs, thus a penalty shall be charged.