The National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) has reportedly appointed a special medical committee to make recommendations on whether a consignment of 160,000 vials of Filgrastim injections imported from China for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy can be labelled locally and used. The Medical Supplies Division had rejected the consignment because the vials were not labelled.
Although the containers in which the medicines were imported from China carried the relevant labels, the medicines themselves were not labelled, prompting the Medical Supplies Division to reject the consignment.
NMRA Chairman Specialist Dr Ananda Wijewickrama stated that the importing company had requested permission from the authority to label the medicines locally after laboratory testing, explaining that the consignment would otherwise have to be sent back to China for labelling, which would involve a substantial cost.
Filgrastim is administered to cancer patients following chemotherapy to prevent infections that may arise due to a reduction in the number of white blood cells in the body.
The rejection of the consignment has also resulted in a shortage of the medicine in the country.
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