Chinese Herbal Preparation With Western Drug Ingredients Found

Main Category: Complementary Medicine / Alternative Medicine
Article Date: 05 Aug 2006 - 0:00 PDT

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The Department of Health (DH) today (August 3) urged members of the public not to buy or take a Chinese herbal preparation labelled as Beijing Jiannan Zhongyi Hospital Zhongyao Pei Fang Ke Li, as the product was found to contain western drug ingredients that might cause serious side effects.

A spokesman for DH said the product was found from a 40-year-old man who was admitted into Queen Elizabeth Hospital for acute hepatitis in July. Investigation found that he bought the medicine in the Mainland and had been taking it for gouty arthritis, a disease caused by excessive urates accumulated in the bloodstream and joints.

The man had recovered and was discharged from hospital. His acute hepatitis was unrelated to the product.

However, laboratory tests on the product found that it contained five western drug ingredients, namely, phenacetin (, aminopyrine), ibuprofen, diclofenac and indomethacin, which may cause gastrointestinal disturbances or blood-related diseases.

The spokesman said according to DH´s record, the product concerned was not registered under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance in Hong Kong. DH has no record of the product having been imported into Hong Kong for sale.

Members of the public who have obtained the products should immediately stop using it and seek medical advice if they feel unwell.

People with gouty arthritis should consult medical professionals for appropriate advice or treatment, he said.

The spokesman explained that ibuprofen, diclofenac and indomethacin are all pain killers but they can cause gastrointestinal disturbances such as gastric pain, nausea, vomiting, peptic ulcer and bleeding.

Phenacetin and aminopyrine were used previously as pain killers but were banned in Hong Kong in 1983 and 1984 respectively due to their serious side-effects such as haemolytic anaemia (a disease relating to the destruction of red blood cells) and agranulocytosis (a disorder in which there is a severe acute deficiency of certain white blood cells.)

Anyone who is in possession of the product concerned should dispose of them or submit them to Pharmaceutical Service of DH at 3/F, Public Health Laboratory Centre, 382 Nam Cheong Street, Kowloon during office hours.

Hong Kong Department of Health

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