MANILA — Amid the unequivocal support of President Rodrigo R. Duterte to Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) drive against fake drugs, the FDA on Sunday reiterated its warning on the potential danger posed by counterfeit drugs to the health of Filipinos.
“These may be contaminated, contain wrong, or no active ingredient, or are being dispensed at the wrong dosage,” said FDA Director-General Nela Charade Puno in a statement.
Puno added that fake drugs may cause adverse effects to their health instead of curing them.
“These fake drugs may cause more harm than good to their health if taken,” she added.
As a tip to avoid falling prey to counterfeit drugs, the public was advised by FDA to buy only from accredited drugstores and pharmacies.
“The consumers should purchase them only from government-licensed pharmacies and make sure they have the Certificate of Product Registration from the FDA,” she said.
The FDA official issued the warning after Duterte himself expressed all-out support to war against manufacturers and sellers of counterfeit drugs.
“The President’s backing has given us an even stronger resolve to put a stop to this practice which endangers the well-being of the public,” she added.
With that she vowed to further intensify the joint operations between the FDA and the Philippine National Police (PNP) against the perpetrators which the President described as “economic saboteurs”.
Data shows that the FDA-PNP Joint Task Force D-PUNCH (Destroying Products Unfit for Human Consumption) has resulted in the seizure of more than PHP76 million worth of assorted counterfeit drugs from the period of March 2017 to March 2018.
The seized products, sold directly or via online selling, included counterfeit over-the-counter drugs such as paracetamol; pain killers; mefenamic acid; anti-diarrhea; loperamide, anti-arthritis; skin whitening; slimming tea; and anti-impotency drugs.