The New Zealand Ministry of Health's medicines and medical devices regulator Medsafe is warning New Zealanders to be aware of what they're buying when shopping for herbal remedies, following charges brought against a Chinese herbalist in Auckland.
In the Auckland District Court, 46-year-old George Zheng and his Company, Ichi Trade (NZ) Ltd have been fined a total of $42,500 plus costs after both pleaded guilty in February to various charges brought under the Medicines Act 1981. Mr Zheng pleaded guilty to one charge each of advertising a ‘new’ medicine and sale of a prescription medicine other than by a pharmacist in a pharmacy and his Company pleaded guilty to one charge of advertising and five charges of selling a ‘new’ medicine.
On sentencing Zheng and Ichi Trade (NZ) Ltd, Judge Aitken commented that “…in the absence of any assessment by health professionals as to the suitability of the person seeking to purchase the tablets, coupled with a complete lack of any proper assessment of the quality, safety and efficacy of these pills, together with the known risk of both Sildenafil and Sibutramine, leave me in no doubt that there was a significant risk of real harm to consumers from the defendants’ offending”.
The charges were laid after Ministry officials as part of a surveillance operation noticed a sign in the window of Mr Zheng's Panmure Chinese herbal clinic advertising "Natural Viagra", in June 2006. A purchase of the ‘Natural Viagra’ was made and a search of the premises was subsequently carried out. Several ’new’ medicines were found, including products containing the prescription medicines sildenafil and sibutramine. Viagra is the only product containing sildenafil that is approved for distribution in New Zealand and Reductil is the only approved product containing sibutramine. A ‘new’ medicine is a medicine that has not been approved for distribution in New Zealand.
"In the absence of adequate regulation, this case demonstrates that consumers simply can't be assured about the safety or quality of the "natural" health product they are purchasing," said Derek Fitzgerald, Medsafe Team Leader, Compliance.
He says the defendant was claiming to sell a "natural" medicine which includes a perception that the product is safe, when in fact he was selling a prescription medicine which had the potential to cause serious harm.
"It's vital we send signals to the community of retailers selling natural medicines that they risk prosecution if they sell products containing pharmaceuticals and the onus is on them to make sure the products they sell comply with the law."
"Medsafe has increased its surveillance at the border to decrease the importation of unapproved medicines, and will take steps to prosecute companies and individuals selling products that contain pharmaceuticals unless these products have Ministerial consent to market", says Derek Fitzgerald.
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