Fake Vermox sneaked into Ghana

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vermox

The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has warned consumers against a fake anti-worm tablets ?Vermox, circulating within pharmacy and chemical shops in the country.

The drugs are said to be circulating particularly in the Western and Greater Accra regions.

?The FDA, through its postmarket surveillance found two batches of fake/counterfeit Vermox in some shops in the Western and Greater Accra regions and laboratory analysis revealed that the two batches contain no active ingredients,? the FDA alerted in a press statement released on Friday, April 25, 2014.

The statement was signed by Hudu Mogtari, the Chief Executive of the FDA.

The FDA went on to give out features of the batches of fake Vermox making rounds in the named regions.

According to the food and drug regulator, the drugs are in two batches: one with batch number BLL 1V01 with manufacturing date of January 2011 and expiry date of December 2016.

The second fake batch of the anti-worm medication is labelled DBL4G01 and is alleged to be manufactured in February 2013 with expiry date of January, 2016. The fake Vermox is purported to have been manufactured by Janssen Cilag.

But the FDA had denied this, warning that those batches of Vermox have not been registered with its outfit unlike the original tablets manufactured by Janssen Cilag.

?The general public is to take note that the original Vermox has been registered with the FDA and the manufacturer is Janssen Cilag,? the FDA stated.

?Pharmacist, licensed chemical shops, hospitals, clinics and all other health facilities having stocks of the Vermox with the above-mentioned batch numbers, manufacturing and expiry dates are advised to immediately hand over those products to any of the FDA offices countrywide.

In the statement, the FDA warned against ?buying medicine from drug peddlers and other dubious sources. Medicines purchased from these sources could be fake/ counterfeit,? it stated.

In the past few months, the FDA had been caught in a battle with distributors of fake pharmaceutical products in the country. The regulator has succeeded in seizing several consignments of fake pharmaceuticals, but it is believed several others are still in circulation.

By Raphael Ofori-Adeniran

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