25 Mar 2009
A spokesman for the Department of Health (DH) today (March 25) said the department was investigating a case in which the expiry dates shown on the labels of a same batch of pharmaceutical product supplied by Unipharm Trading Company (Unipharm) were different.
The spokesman said the case was reported by the Hospital Authority (HA) today after the latter found the discrepancy during a current drug stock-taking exercise.
Initial investigations by the DH have indicated that the drug involved was Propranolol 10 mg tablets used for treating blood pressure and irregular heart beat.
It was found that the actual expiry date of the drug (batch no. PA451) was December 2011 but one out of every 36 bottles of the drug had an expiry date mislabeled as September 2011, three months ahead of the real expiry date.
The drug was imported by Unipharm from the United Kingdom intact and the labels were adhered to the bottles by the company in accordance with local requirements.
A total of 2,596 bottles of the affected batch has been distributed to HA while another 215 bottles were supplied to the DH, private doctors and pharmacies.
"The cause of the discrepancy is suspected to be related to an isolated computer malfunctioning when the labels were being prepared.
"The DH inspected the company today and did not find same kind of discrepancy in other pharmaceutical products,"the spokesman said.
The spokesman stressed that as the expiry date shown on the bottles in question was three months ahead of the actual expiry date, there was no safety, efficacy or quality concern with the consumption of the drug.
However, the DH has cautioned the company concerned to review its labeling procedure and to take immediate remedial measures including re-labeling the product in question.