bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Danny Mok

The Department of Health has ordered a drug wholesaler to recall five products that were found to have unregistered sales packs.
 Two of the drugs concerned were also found to have carried unregistered medical indications in the printed material supplied with them.
 A spokesman for the department said last night it had instructed Main Life Corporation,  a licensed pharmaceutical wholesaler on Wyndham Street, Central, to recall the products.
They are Dexaltin Oral paste  50 x 2g tubes per pack; Dopareel  7.5mg 500 tablets in blister per pack; Dopareel 10mg 500 tablets in blister per pack; Glutathion  40 tablets per pack and 100 tablets per pack; and Lacspan  powder 12 sachets per pack.
The spokesman said the Glutathion tablets and Lacspan powder had unregistered medical indications.
The products were sold to private hospitals, private doctors, pharmacies and medicine shops. Doctors and pharmacists should stop administering them to clients, he said.
A Hospital Authority spokeswoman said the products were not supplied to its hospitals and clinics. 
The department spokesman said there were no immediate safety, efficacy or quality concerns with the use of Dexaltin Oral paste, a mouth ulcer treatment, and the two Dopareel tablets, both sleeping medicines. 
But he said there was no evidence to support the unregistered medical indications for Glutathion tablets, used as antioxidants, and Lacspan, for restoring gut  micro-organisms.
The department detected the irregularities when its staff inspected Main Life's office following a media inquiry on Monday.
Main Life has set up a hotline, 2524 2462, to answer inquiries. The department also has a hotline, 2319 2905, operating from 9am to 5pm on weekdays. Its investigation is continuing.
Meanwhile, an action group yesterday urged the government to set up a drug monitoring body modelled on the US Food and Drug Administration  and to give more power to the Health Department. 
The current medical monitoring system was not comprehensive enough and did not cover   equipment such as scanners, radiation-emitting equipment such as X-ray machines, or cosmetic products such as makeup, said former medical sector legislator Kwok Ka-ki.



Drug firm ordered  to recall 5 products