Medical products recalled, licence suspended
Prime Minister John Howard had to urge Australians not to panic, after health authorities ordered the recall of 219 medical products and suspended the licence of the country’s largest manufacturer of herbal vitamins and nutritional supplements.
Pan Pharmaceuticals had its manufacturing licence suspended yesterday for six months after a series of alleged safety and quality breaches.
It accounts for 70% of Australia’s herbal vitamins and nutritional supplements and exports to dozens of countries.
It also makes some over-the-counter medicines, including Paracetamol, codeine and antihistamines, and a government agency warned that thousands more products might be recalled in coming days.
The company’s chief executive officer, Jim Selim, said Pan was working to comply fully with the agency’s regulations.
