Jane Lai
MAJOR drug retailers had stopped sales of a popular weight-loss drug containing sibutramine hydrochloride.
On Oct. 30, China s State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) suspended sales of Qu Mei slimming capsules manufactured by the Chongqing-based Taiji Group, saying the drug could increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
We stopped selling Qu Mei two weeks ago after we received a notice from the Shenzhen drug administration, employees at a China Nepstar Chain Drugstore said yesterday.
They said customers could return unopened containers to the place of purchase for a full refund.
That was echoed by the China Associate Pharmacy and Shenzhen Wedge Medicine Co., which together have hundreds of branches in Shenzhen.
Women should not rely on a slimming drug to have a better shape and there was always a better and healthier way to lose weight exercise, a female resident Wu Huiling said yesterday.
There are 45 anti-obesity products nationwide containing sibutramine hydrochloride. The SFDA said it had received nearly 300 reports of side effects throughout China.
The country would also stop production, sale and use of sibutramine hydrochloride and seek to recall 45 products containing the substance, the SFDA said.
The active ingredient alters chemical messages to a region of the brain that controls food craving. Monitoring for side effects found that it increased the risk of heart attack, stroke and death in patients trying to lose weight.
At least 15 companies in China produce medicines containing the substance, including Taiji Group, a company listed on both the Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges.
The Taiji Group, which voluntarily recalled the diet drug, said in a statement released Saturday that the recall would incur losses of at least 40 million yuan (US$5.99 million), or 0.8 percent of annual sales.
Sibutramine was first introduced to world markets in 1997 and entered the Chinese market in 2000. Last month, the U.S. drug giant Abbott Laboratories agreed to withdraw its sibutramine-based obesity drug, Meridia, from the U.S. market. Back in January, the U.K. pharmaceutical regulator told doctors to stop prescribing sibutramine.
