If you use Biogesic paracetamol tablets to treat your headaches, you might want to know this. The Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned the public yesterday that there are fake tablets out there.
“Consumers are also reminded to purchase drug products only from FDA-licensed establishments,” an FDA spokesperson was quoted in a report in The Philippine Star.
The FDA and United Laboratories, Inc (Unilab), Biogesic’s manufacturer, both confirmed the existence of fake Biogesic tabs in the market.
So how do you tell if the tablets are fake? According to the FDA, the legit Biogesic tablets are lighter in color, while the fake ones are darker.
An editorial published in The Philippine Star in December said that at least one in 10 drugs on the market are counterfeit.
This is due to a demand for cheaper medicines, which fake drug manufacturers are able to provide.
Buying drugs on the internet, according to the FDA, increases the likelihood that the medicines purchased are fakes.
“At least 90 percent of the products such as drugs, cosmetics and food supplements that [are] being sold online are not registered [with the FDA]. These could be counterfeit products,” Annette Tan, a representative of the FDA in Mindanao said in November.
Anyone convicted of importing or selling fake drugs can face fines from PHP50,000 (US$1,000) to PHP5 million (US$100,000) and one to 10 years in prison.
Unilab posted a guide on their Facebook page yesterday to help the public spot if the paracetamol they’ve purchased is fake.
