E-drug: counterfeit contraceptive pills in Brazil
-------------------------------------------------
Brazil-Phony Contraceptives
Government slaps USD 2.5 million fine on German Pharmaceutical Company
Eds: Corrects last name of president from Blitzer to Bitzer in 5th,
8th and 9th-11th grafs. Picks up 12th graf pvs
By STAN LEHMAN
Associated Press Writer
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Embroiled in a phony birth control pill
scandal, the Brazilian subsidiary of German pharmaceutical giant Schering
AG was slapped with a 2.9 million real (USD 2.5 million) fine, the Justice
Ministry said Wednesday.
At least 10 women in the state of Sao Paulo have said they became
pregnant after taking the fake Microvlar contraceptives manufactured by
Schering, which said they were intended solely to test out new packaging
equipment.
The placebo pills, made of lactose and sugar, were supposed to have been
incinerated after the tests, but were stolen and sold illegally.
After visiting the company's Sao Paulo installations, police chief
Sergio Abdalla said he was convinced the phony contraceptives were stolen
while they were being transported to the incinerator.
The president of Schering's Brazilian subsidiary, Rainer Bitzer told the
Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper that 650,000 packages, containing 21 pills
each were used to test the new packaging equipment.
It is still unclear exactly how many packages were stolen and
distributed.
An anonymous letter sent together with a package of the fake pills
notified Schering in May that it had a problem, but the company took almost
a month to notify health authorities.
Bitzer explained the delay, saying the company first conducted its own
investigation and found no placebos on the market.
"Only after the first pregnant woman called to complain did we realize
the problem was bigger than we had imagined," Bitzer said. "We made a
mistake in not notifying authorities immediately."
Asked if Schering will compensate the women who got pregnant after
taking the phony contraceptives, Bitzer said "we will contact each one of
them and study the situation case-by-case. We will assume our
responsibility."
While Bitzer said the packages of fake pills were easily identifiable
because they had no production or expiration date stamped on them, the
government feels that was not enough to protect the consumer.
submitted by:
Carinne Bruneton
ReMeD - Reseau Medicaments et Developpement
35 rue Daviel
75 013 Paris
tel 33 1 53 80 20 20
fax 33 1 53 80 20 21
e mail 113523.1523@compuserve.com
e mail ReMeD75013@aol.com
--
Send mail for the `E-Drug' conference to `e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.
Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'.
For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.