Four senior executives of Marching Pharmaceutical Ltd were arrested last night after raids on the firm's offices and its plant in Kwai Ching. Documents were also seized.The move came hours after the Department of Health suspended its license and accused it of being "uncooperative" in a probe into wrongly labeled expiry dates.
The one-month suspension comes as Marching Pharmaceutical is being investigated for allegedly falsifying test reports on two products requiring license renewal.
The suspension was announced yesterday by Deputy Director of Health Gloria Tam Lai-fan following a decision by the registration committee of the Pharmacy and Poisons Board.
The products - Flu-skin Cream and Calibo Calcium Syrup - are among 216 subject to a recall order made by the department on Wednesday.
Tam said Marching has apparently breached licensing requirements and been "uncooperative" during the investigation.
The company has also been ordered to extend its recall from stores to consumers.
According to Tam, a pharmaceutical company is required to notify the department of plans to recall products.
However, the recall notice by Marching to retailers, in Chinese, appeared to be aimed at avoiding an investigation.
"It is necessary to have an immediate recall of the products due to the mislabeling of the expiry date. Kindly be cooperative and return all stocks to us to avoid the Department of Health from getting hold of the incident and to avoid unnecessary trouble," th
e notice said.The department will re-inspect more than 20 pharmaceutical companies that have already met its good manufacturing practices standard.
Those with links to Marching will be among the first to be inspected.
Tam compared Marching with Europharm, the Tai Po drug company responsible for the fungal-tainted gout medicine allopurinol, which has been linked to the deaths of at least six people.
She said Europharm has been "more cooperative" in its investigation.
To regain its license, Tam said, Marching will have to meet three criteria - product safety, quality and efficacy.
The recall of the 216 products is for quality reasons instead of safety concerns, she said. "There is no evidence the recalled products are unsafe, it is a quality issue."
The company has a total of 459 products, which have been inspected by the department. No problems were found in the remainder.
In the long term, the department said there is a need to review its oversight of drug companies.
The Hospital Authority said it only uses two products manufactured by Marching - a medicated skin cream and a potassium solution for intravenous use. Both items will soon be replaced by products from other manufacturers.
Marching has refused to comment on the department's actions.
