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Health office clears charges against drug company

URDANETA CITY (May 27) — Pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution company PhilPharmawealth, Inc. has been cleared of allegedly dispensing counterfeit antibiotics to district hospitals here by the Regional Health Office (RHO).

PhilPharmawealth is the official distributor of benzyl penicillin sodium to 14 district hospitals in the province.

Officials of the Don Amadeo Perez Jr. General Hospital said that they discovered “irregularities” on the said drug after testing random samples. Benzyl penicillin is a medicine for infections caused by styphylococcus bacteria and used to treat pneumonia and upper respiratory tract infections.

Dr. Vivian Villar, hospital chief, said that after examining 7 out of the 889 remaining vials, the drug would not dissolve in distilled water and manifested a cloudy appearance. Villar sought the investigation of the provincial health office which authorized the drug firm.

The supply with batch number 070144 delivered to the hospital on April 5 was replaced upon order by its officials.

In a letter sent to Villar dated May 11, Dr. Reynado Jacinto, chief Standards and Regulation Division of Center for Health Development (CHD) in San Fernando, La Union, CHD blamed the hot weather for the samples’ insolubility.

“It is a well-considered factor among pharmaceutical industries that hot temperature readily affects the stability of products specifically antibiotics,” Jacinto said.

The CHD team conducted an ocular inspection at the hospital pharmacy where poor ventilation and crowded storages were observed. A single electric fan airs the entire pharmacy, augmenting the required room temperature for the drug. CHD has recommended for the upgrading of the facility.

“The medicine has been the drug of choice because it is effective and affordable. The company has long been distributing it and only now that the incident happened which makes it an isolated case” Villar said.

“Reports that the drug were fake didn’t come from us, it is baseless,” said Villar blaming the local media for sowing the wrong information. # Jhong dela Cruz for NORDIS

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