The Ministry of Health is about to destruct a batch of expired Tamiflu, which was produced in 2006 and worth around 280 billion dong (around $17.5 million).

The Ministry of Health is about to destruct a batch of expired Tamiflu, which was produced in 2006 and worth around 280 billion dong (around $17.5 million).

This batch includes over 9.7 million pills.

In 2005, according to the World Health Organisation, Vietnam had high numbers of H5N1 patients and deaths in comparison with others in the region. Out of 61 recorded cases in that year, 19 died.

Vietnam began reserving Tamiflu, just as did 40 other countries in the world. Apart from aid medicine, the Ministry of Health also signed contracts with four companies to produce Tamiflu.

By March 2006, these firms had over 9.7 million pills, with expiration date until February 2008. The Ministry extended the expiration date by one year. Over half of a year after the expiration date, the Tamiflu is languishing in company warehouses.

These four companies reject the charge by Government inspectors that accepted commissions from foreign raw-materials suppliers.  In a press release, Imexpharm, Pymepharco, Cuu Long, and Stada Vietnam Pharmaceutical Companies claimed that the investigation was unfair and had ulterior motives.

According to the inspectors, the four companies imported raw materials at higher prices than that offered by their rival, Roche, and took millions of dollars in commissions.

But the four companies said Roche “never offered” to sell raw materials for the drugs since it would profit more by making the drug.

They estimated that the Swiss company could make 10,000 tablets from a kilogram of raw materials, each at a cost of $1.3 whereas “Roche’s selling price was $2.5.”

The release asserted that, as a result, the companies had to buy from other sources at up to $18,000 a kilogram. By contrast, Roche complained to inspectors that these companies did not buy from them even though their price was $6,000 less.

The four companies also did not exceed the ceiling price of $1.8 per tablet imposed by the Ministries of Health and Finance. They claim their pill was among the cheapest in Asia.

As for the $2.8 million allegedly “returned” by the raw-materials suppliers to three of the four firms - Pymepharco, Imexpharm, and Stada Vietnam - and $3.8 million withheld by Cuu Long Company out of its payment, the release claimed it was compensation for losses they incurred since they could not achieve the productivity promised by technology suppliers.

“The sums are not commissions for our purchases,” the companies maintained.

An agreement with the suppliers stipulates that the technologies provided by the latter should ensure a certain number of tablets could be produced, but the companies complain that they could not achieve that level.

PV