Imexpharm prevails against accusations

photo: Phuoc Thien source: xaluan.com

Imexpharm, based in southern Dong Thap province and one of Vietnam’s leading pharmaceutical makers, said the Government Inspectorate’s false accusation that it had violated regulations on trading, exports and imports of medicine materials “has misinformed some investors about this sensitive case and it has badly affected Imexpharm’s brand name.”

“This case was solved radically nearly two years ago,” said an Imexpharm statement sent to the State Securities Commission, Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange and investors.

The Government Inspectorate in mid-April trumpeted a report on results of inspections over the Ministry of Health’s (MoH) state management on pharmacy.

Under the report, Imexpharm is accused of having in between July 2010 and August 2011 sold 4,079,800 habit-forming tablets of Nucofed (Codein base 10mg, Pseudoephedrin HCl 30mg) to those not needing treatment with this medicine. In between January 2008 to October 2011, Imexpharm was said to have sold seven types of medicines having habit-forming substances, psychotropic substances and precusor substances to Cambodia without MoH’s permission and customs procedures.

However, Imexpharm’s spokesman Le Quoc Dinh said this accusation was quite wrong.

He said based on the Government Inspectorate’s Inspection Conclusion 94/KL-TTCP dated January 12, 2012, on December 28, 2011, the Ministry of Public Security’s (MPS) Department for Anti-Drug Criminal Police worked [with Imexpharm] and enacted Decision 09/C47-P6 dated December 14, 2011 on prosecuting Imexpharm for its “violations on habit-forming medicine usage and management regulations.”

However, on December 29, 2011, Imexpharm appealed this decision while publicizing evidence that showed products made and marketed by Imexpharm “are not habit-forming medicines.”

Then the MPS asked the MoH to check whether these medicines were habit-forming ones or not. On March 20, 2012 the MoH promulgated Document 21/CV-PC stating that these products were not habit-forming medicines.

Therefore, on April 13, 2012, the MPS issued Announcement 120/C46-P6 on “annulling the prosecution of the case” and then transferred the case to Dong Thap province’s Police Department for further investigations, saying that Imexpharm “has signals of illegal trading or smuggling.”

On July 30, 2012 Dong Thap’s Investigative Police Agency released Document 87/PC47 concluding that: “Imexpharm has not engaged in illegal business” and “smuggling.”

Lawyer Nguyen Huu Lam from Phuc Tho Law Firm protecting Imexpharm’s legal rights and interests said the content under the Government Inspectorate’s report on results of inspections regarding Imexpharm was “not new” and “was already solved nearly two years ago.” This content was made based on the Government Inspectorate’s Inspection Conclusion 94/KL-TTCP, not on Dong Thap’s Investigative Police Agency’s Document 87/PC47.

Also under the Government Inspectorate’s report on results of inspections in mid-April, some other pharmaceutical firms were also found to have violated medicine material trading regulations. They included German-Vietnamese joint venture Stada-Vietnam, and locally-owned Tipharco, Ho Chi Minh City Medical Export Import, Minh Hai Pharmaceutical and Ha Tay Pharmaceutical.

For example, Stada-Vietnam was found to have in 2011 sold 210 bottles of Partamol siro (PSE 30mg) and 240 boxes of Partamol-Codein (Codein phosphat 30mg) with each box containing 100 tablets to Papua New Guinea without any MoH’s permission.