MANILA – All unauthorized listings and postings online of the anti-viral drug molnupiravir have been taken down because these are unregistered, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director General Oscar Gutierrez said Tuesday night.
In his report to President Rodrigo Duterte, Gutierrez said the FDA found 48 advertisements of molnupiravir over online platforms and social media consisting of nine brands.
These are Molnarz, Movfor, Moluzen, Molenzavir, Molmed, Mpiravir, Zero Vir, Molnuvid, and Movir.
"Violation po ‘yan ng Republic Act 9711 dahil hindi naman po sila mga rehistradong produkto (That's a violation of Republic Act 9711 because they are not registered products)," Gutierrez said.
Only Molnarz, Movfor, Moluzen, Molenzavir, Molmed were issued emergency use authorization and compassionate special permit by the FDA, he added.
"Anyway, ito nga po ay na-i-coordinate natin sa mga may-ari po ng platform and even drugstore. All listings and postings were taken down naman po (We have coordinated these with the platform owners and even drugstore[s]. All listings and postings were taken down)," he said.
Five listings were removed from online selling platform Carousell; 30 from Facebook; three from Lazada; two from Shopee; six from Viber; and two from an FDA-licensed pharmacy with online delivery account.
As for the availability of Covid-related medicine, about 173 more were added to the already registered 1,538 products.
These products include analgesics, antipyretics, cough and cold preparations, anti-diarrhea medicines, antihistamines, and vitamin C which are used to manage Covid-19 symptoms.
"At ito pa ay madadagdagan po sa susunod na mga araw kasi nag-institute po tayo sa FDA ng streamlining of process at automation po ng system para mapabilis pa po ang pagrehistro ng mga produkto (More products will be added to these because we have instituted in FDA a streamlining of process and automation of system to ease product registration)," Gutierrez said. (PNA)
