By Bernard Yaw Ashiadey
The Food and Drugs Board has ordered Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company to recall its Camoquine-Plus Suspension drug, fearing the drug is substandard and may lead to severe life- threatening complications or death if administered to patients.
“The FDB after subjecting the drug to several tests in the laboratory realised it lacked the active ingredients in the right quantities.
“Pfizer should therefore recall all the drugs from the market for destruction under the supervision of the FDB,” James Lartey, Public Relations Officer of the FDB, told the Business and Financial Times in an interview.
Mr. Lartey explained that the drug, which is an anti-malaria medicine for children with batch numbers 985 and 986 and expiry date of November 2011, was manufactured by Pfizer in Senegal with an address as Pfizer Afrique de l’Quest, BP 3857 – Dakar R.P-Senegal.
Healthcare providers, hospitals, clinics, pharmacists, chemist, licenced chemical shops and parents are advised not to administer the drugs to patients with the above mentioned batch numbers since that would lead to therapeutic failure in the treatment of malaria, he said.
He added even though the drug is registered with the FDB, its post-market surveillance unit during its routine checks discovered that the ones currently on the market are substandard.
However, the Public Affairs and Communications Director of Pfizer in her response said even though the FDB did not contact Pfizer before the press release was issued, they (Pfizer) are doing everything possible to clarify the situation.
“We are doing all we can to recall the drugs but it is proving difficult. Pfizer does not encourage substandard drugs and these drugs can even be fake products.
“We want to assure the general public that patient safety is a priority for us and (want to) emphasize Pfizer’s commitment to safe and good quality medicine.
“We will continue to work with the relevant authorities to support further investigation into this case.”
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