Drug company fined $9000 for selling to internet suppliers

A pharmaceutical supplies company was fined $9000 yesterday for sourcing medicines from overseas and selling them to buyers in Vanuatu for sale over the internet.

IT Pharmaceutical Supplies (ITP) admitted six charges under the Medicines Act in a case brought by the Ministry of Health business unit Medsafe.

ITP was also ordered to pay costs of $6000 and court costs of $780 in the Manukau District Court judgment.

Medsafe said ITP came to its attention after New Zealand Customs seized a consignment of medicines en route to Vanuatu.

After an investigation the ministry concluded that ITP was sourcing medicines from overseas companies in Germany, Turkey and England and then selling them to purchasers in Vanuatu, who then planned to sell them over the internet.

The medicines involved were "new medicines" and had not been approved for sale in New Zealand by the Minister of Health, as required under the Medicines Act.

The ministry said the sale of medicines without this consent from New Zealand was an offence.

Medsafe's team leader of compliance, Derek Fitzgerald, welcomed the guilty plea.

He said the Medicines Act was designed to protect public health and safety by ensuring consumers received medicines that were safe, effective and of acceptable quality.

ITP had agreed to no longer sell or distribute medicines, either in New Zealand or from New Zealand, unless those medicines had ministerial consent.

"If a medicine distributed within or from New Zealand does not have ministerial consent and has not been evaluated by Medsafe, there is no guarantee that the medicine is safe to use, or that the medicine actually contains what it says on the label," Mr Fitzgerald said.

Even though these medicines were unlikely to be sold to local consumers, Mr Fitzgerald said, New Zealand was a responsible member of the international community and should act to deter residents from selling medicines to overseas purchasers if these sales breached the Medicines Act.

"It appears the medicines concerned in this case were destined for supply to consumers around the world via internet sale."

Medsafe considered this would be dangerous for consumers.

- NZPA