Man arrested for selling unregistered pharmaceutical product on the Internet

8 Jan 2010

A 33-year-old man was today (January 8) arrested in a joint operation between the Department of Health (DH) and the police as part of a follow-up investigation into the sale of an unregistered product for managing sexual dysfunction which was found earlier to contain undeclared western medicine.

The man was suspected of selling the product named Vegetal Vigra on the Internet.

Three boxes of the product were seized from the man at the time of arrest.

Thirteen boxes of Vegetal Vigra and four boxes of two other slimming products were also found in a home search.

The department would investigate whether the seized products contain undeclared western drug ingredients.

"According to preliminary enquiry, the product was claimed to be obtained from the Mainland," a DH spokesman said.

In last December, the department obtained "Vegetal Vigra" from an Internet auction website during the department's surveillance operation.

The department issued a warning on December 18, 2009 reminding people not to take the product as laboratory tests on the product showed the presence of sildenafil and tadalafil.

The spokesman said the product was not a registered pharmaceutical product in Hong Kong.

He explained that both sildenafil and tadalafil were Western medicines usually used for treating male sexual dysfunction.

Their side effects included low blood pressure, headache, vomiting, dizziness, and transient vision disturbances. It may interact with nitrates found in some prescription drugs (such as nitroglycerin for treatment of angina) and may lower blood pressure of patients to dangerous levels.

"Improper use of sildenafil and tadalafil may pose serious health risks, especially for patients with heart problems," the spokesman said.

Under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance, products containing any of these two ingredients must be registered before sale and can be sold only on a doctor's prescription and under supervision of a pharmacist.

The spokesman urged people not to sell products of unknown or doubtful composition.

He said sale of unregistered pharmaceutical products was an offence under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance. The maximum penalty is a fine of $100,000 and two years' imprisonment.

The spokesman urged people with sexual dysfunction to consult healthcare professionals for advice if necessary.