Fake Drugs Impounded in Tanzania

1.2 million vials of substandard drugs have been impounded in Tanzania by the Food and Drug Authority (TFDA).

1.2 million vials of substandard drugs have been impounded in Tanzania by the Food and Drug Authority (TFDA).

The TFDA impounded vials of injectable counterfeit antibiotics, gentamicin, used to treat E. coli, salmonella, shigella, pneumonia, staphylococcus and pelvic inflammatory disease, among others.

An anonymous tip alerted TFDA Eastern Zone manager, Florent Kyombo, to intervene before large quantities of the medicine were distributed to outlets, reported The Tanzanian Citizen.

He said the labels on the bottles were erasable.

“Having a label that is difficult to remove or erase is one of conditions and guidelines used to distinguish fake from genuine products,” he continued adding that traders could falsify any information to increase their profit like extending the expiration date beyond the actual date, or changing the medicine’s name to a more profitable product.

“Failure to observe one guideline is enough to merit removal of a product from the market… we don’t have to incur other costs in doing laboratory tests,” he insisted. Though 1.2 million vias were removed, the largest action in TFDA history, 37,000 vials of the suspect medicine are reported to be in the public market.

TFDA has directed the manufacturer to immediately recall and withdraw all the vials it may have already distributed to the market. Kyombo said that all the banned vials would be destroyed under TFDA supervision.