E-DRUG: Substandard propofol supplied by UNIMED in Zambia (12)
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Dear Nhomsai Hagen,
Thank you for bringing the case of substandard misoprostol found in Malawi
to E-drug, and to the global conference on Quality of Medicines in Oxford,
23-27 September.
You write that the supplier was Premiumway International U.K., but that it
did not give a postal address on its website www.premiumway.co.uk
There is an easy solution to his: all UK companies have to register their
address and directors with Company House UK.
A free and simple search on
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/
shows the details of the company:
PREMIUMWAY INTERNATIONAL LTD
04004615 - Incorporated on 31 May 2000
13 Pomeroy Drive, Oadby, Leicester, LE2 5NE, UK
On the same address there are actually more companies registered:
UNIMED INTERNATIONAL LTD
01383157 - Incorporated on 9 August 1978
13 Pomeroy Drive, Leicester, LE2 5NE
UNIMED GLOBAL LIMITED
11426240 - Incorporated on 21 June 2018
13 Pomeroy Drive, Oadby, Leicester, England, LE2 5NE
FIELDYORK INTERNATIONAL LIMITED
06605956 - Incorporated on 29 May 2008
13 Pomeroy Drive, Leicester, LE2 5NE
So Premiumway Intl is based on the same address as UNIMED Intl that was
involved in the substandard propofol in Zambia!
Being on the same physical address does of course not provide proof that
these are the same companies. But then you can look on the same Company House website who are the Directors:
Premiumway lists 2 active Directors and the active Secretary with the
surname TH***AR.
UNIMED intl also lists 2 active Directors and the active Secretary with the
same surname TH***AR.
Fieldyork International Ltd lists 2 active Directors with the same surname
TH***AR.
[All this info with full first- and surnames is publicly available on Company House website]
So this provides sufficient evidence that the same Directors run these three
companies.
You can also search for name changes: your E-drug moderator obtained a
document from UK Company House that before 3 July 2008 UNIMED Intl was known
as Fieldyork International Ltd.
Fieldyork Intl was also supplying medicines to Zambia in 2005, and it supplied schoolbooks to Malawi in 1996.
And if you want to know more about the history of Fieldyork in Malawi, look here:
https://zodiakmalawi.com/top-stories/fieldyork-tender-veil-of-secrecy
Let us discus here on E-drug and at the Quality Medicines Conference in
Oxford how we can better control international brokers which until now
escape most regulatory controls while supplying medicines to people in LMICs.
Regards
Wilbert Bannenberg
Wilbert Bannenberg, public health consultant
Founder and co-moderator of E-drug
Moderator email: e-drug-owner@healthnet.org