18 million pills of cold medicine turned in

After the deadline for pharmacies to return cough medicine containing pseudoephedrine passed at 4.30pm yesterday, the medicine would only be available at hospitals and state clinics. Of the total tablets received by the FDA, 10.9 million contained pseudoephedrine mixed in with paracetamol.
Dr Pongpan Wongmanee, deputy secretary-general of the FDA, said the companies delivering over a million tablets each were Thai Nakhon Pattana with 10.15 million tablets and 6,403 litres; M and H Manufacturing with 2 million tablets and 1,467 litres; and Unilab Pharmaceutical with 1.12 million tablets.
The FDA will check these companies’ stocks to see if they matched the reports. The FDA would not be doing this out of suspicion, but due to the large quantities involved.
On May 25, the FDA will hold a meeting with manufacturers and importers of medication as well as clinics wishing to stock pseudoephedrine-based medicine. They would discuss a new, more systematic online ordering system called “FDA Reporter” that would report in real-time a medicine purchase from the source to the destination. A ceiling on the stocks would also be fixed at 5,000-10,000 tablets.
The FDA has revoked the permits to produce pure pseudoephedrine of four manufacturers because it wants to limit the use of such medicine to 12 tonnes per year – compared with 35 tonnes previously. The drug’s import and export are now banned, which the FDA has notified to the International Narcotics Control Board, he added.
Tarit Pengdith, director-general of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), said any pharmacy found stocking pseudoephedrine, which is now a controlled drug listed on Psychotropic Substance Schedule 2, could face one to five years in prison and a Bt20,000-Bt100,000 fine. Those possessing over five grams of the substance could serve five to 20 years in jail.
The pharmaceutical firms had manufactured 60 million pseudoephedrine medicine tablets, of which about 20 million were possessed by authorised medical facilities. The medicine returned from pharmacies via companies would be destroyed along with fake cosmetic products at the incinerator in Ayutthaya’s Bang Pa-in Industrial Estate.
The DSI and eight other agencies believe that the smuggling of pseudoephedrine medicine into Thailand must have been done by large criminal syndicates backed by influential figures due to the huge quantity. Tarit and DSI investigators inspected Suvarnabhumi Airport’s cargo terminal yesterday.
The public prosecutors for special cases have suggested that the DSI conduct its investigation by linking all parties involved from hospital officials and drug companies to salesmen. The focus should be on the five medicine dealers who are now facing charges for fraudulently using a hospital’s name to procure the medicine.
Medicine-related corruption has been found at five hospitals – Nong Khee, Kalamasai, Na Khlang, Serm Ngam and Phusing. However, he declined to reveal details.
In Chiang Mai, Dr Wisit Tangnapakorn, inspector-general at Public Health Region 15, said the probe of missing pseudoephedrine medicine at Doi Lor and Hot hospitals had made much progress, so the accused would be informed of disciplinary charges next week. Allowing time for the suspects to explain themselves and present evidence, the whole process should take two months.
The Doi Lor Hospital probe found evidence that the pharmacist ordered the drug secretly by using the hospital’s name. The Hot Hospital probe showed that the pharmacist had committed a serious offence while the hospital director, who signed the purchase orders, could face slightly softer disciplinary punishment, he added.