Health ministry orders 33 drugs off Taiwan's shelves

Want China Times, Tu Huei-rong and Staff Reporter 2013-12-05

A drug for stomach ulcers at a drug store in Taipei. (Photo/Fang Chun-che)

Taiwan's Ministry of Health and Welfare has made public a list of 33 drugs that do not conform to their own description, ordering their removal off the shelves.

The list includes products from a number of major pharmaceutical manufacturers in Taiwan, such as UC Pharma, Nang Kuang Pharmaceutical, Everest Pharm Industrial and Synmosa Biopharma Corp. The manufacturers said that people should not be concerned about the quality of their products, and that the pharmaceutical ingredients were modified due to changes in regulation.

The 33 medicines treat asthma, hypertension, ulcers and also includes pain killers. All are principal products for the pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Nang Kuang Pharmaceutical is the company with the most drugs on the list, with a total of 13. The companies named will now have to test each item before they can go back on the shelves, each experiment reportedly costs between NT$2 million and NT$3 million (US$67,600-$101,400).

Wang Yu-pei, general manager of Nang Kuang Pharmaceutical, said the company always follows government regulations, and goes by the standards set by the country's Food and Drug Administration.

"It is not that the company's 13 items do not conform with their ingredient. It is because of the new CGMP regulations, which require higher manufacturing techniques so that the medicines are more efficient. I hope that manufacturers could have more time to take on the changes," said Wang.