Pharmacity recalls 4 products related to counterfeit company

(Dan Tri) - Pharmacity Pharmacy System has just issued a notice that it has recalled all products related to Herbitech Company and its affiliated companies.

"Baby Shark" and "Medi Kid Calcium K2" - two names that many parents once trusted and chose for their children, have been identified by the Ministry of Public Security as counterfeit goods, produced by Herbitech Technology Company Limited (Soc Son, Hanoi).

It is worth noting that these two products are not isolated cases. The investigation agency discovered that this company also processed and distributed more than 200 other functional food products, with a total value of up to hundreds of billions of VND, mainly labeled as imported from France, Germany, and the US.

Counterfeit products of Herbitech Company were identified as fake (Photo: CAND).

Pham Vu Khiem - Director of Herbitech company, admitted to altering test results and falsifying achievement criteria to legalize products on the market.

These product bottles are then "transformed" to be perfect on paper, from declaration papers to test results, and then sold openly at pharmacies and online stores.

Pharmacity recalls and refunds 100% of Herbitech related products

According to information from Pharmacity, this company has recalled all products related to Herbitech Company and its affiliates in the pharmacy system. In addition, Pharmacity has proactively suspended business and recalled products manufactured by Herbitech Company, including:

- PMC Blood Activator

- PMC Gingko Biloba

- PMC Joint Care

- PMC Liver Support

These products are registered, announced and distributed by Hoang Giang Saigon Pharmaceutical Company Limited.

Pharmacity has just issued a notice recalling all products related to Herbitech Company and its affiliates (Illustration: Pharmacity).

Before and during the distribution of these products, Pharmacity said it had proactively invested funds (although this responsibility belongs to the manufacturer and distributor) to conduct periodic product quality checks at the VNTest Institute for Quality Control and Testing (under the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations, licensed by the Ministry of Science and Technology ).

This unit also collected reports provided by Hoang Giang Saigon Pharmaceutical Company Limited on behalf of Herbitech Company.

"Each report, including the independent inspection report and the inspection report provided by Hoang Giang Saigon Pharmaceutical Company Limited to Pharmacity Pharmacy, shows that the quality of all four products meets the standards according to the published records licensed by the Department of Food Safety ( Ministry of Health ).

Although there has been no official conclusion from the authorities, the suspension of business is still being carried out by Pharmacity Pharmacy with the highest goal of ensuring the health and safety of consumers, while demonstrating Pharmacity Pharmacy's commitment to strictly comply with legal regulations on product quality standards," Pharmacity's announcement stated.

This unit also said that it will take full responsibility for recalling and refunding 100% to all customers who have purchased products related to Herbitech Company.

Light punishment, overlapping management, negligent post-inspection: Loopholes for fake drugs and milk

Just a few days after the Ministry of Public Security announced the case related to Herbitech Company, the Ministry of Health held online and in-person meetings with ministries, branches and localities.

Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen (Photo: Tran Minh).

The meeting aimed to assess the current situation of production, circulation and consumption of fake drugs, functional foods and cosmetics.

At the meeting, Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen raised the question: Why does Vietnam have legal documents and instructions from the National Steering Committee on Food Safety, specialized management agencies, the Ministries of Health, Industry and Trade, Agriculture, etc., but incidents like the one just happened?

In reality, besides existing regulations such as the Law on Pharmacy (2006), the revised Law on Pharmacy (2024), the Law on Food Safety, and a series of guiding decrees and circulars, there are still large gaps in implementation.

According to Deputy Minister Tuyen, inspection and post-inspection in many localities are not strict, still formal and periodic. Surprise inspections - where there is a possibility of detecting real violations - are too few.

"Regarding implementation, the responsibility lies with the localities. How did the provinces carry out their state management functions on drugs and food safety in their localities to allow incidents like the recent ones to occur?", Deputy Minister Tuyen emphasized.

In addition to the government system, Deputy Minister Tuyen also mentioned the responsibility of manufacturing and distribution enterprises and consumer awareness. In particular, he requested a review of the entire product self-declaration process - a mechanism designed to facilitate enterprises, but which has become a "loophole" for fraudulent behavior.

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Ta Manh Hung, Deputy Director of the Department of Drug Administration (Ministry of Health), pointed out the core cause: Current penalties are too light, not enough to deter counterfeiters.

According to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 192 of the Penal Code, the act of producing and trading in counterfeit goods is only subject to criminal prosecution for counterfeit goods (including medicines...) if the counterfeit goods are worth 30 million VND or more.

Mr. Ta Manh Hung, Deputy Director of the Department of Drug Administration, Ministry of Health (Photo: Tran Minh).

The penalty for trading in counterfeit goods based on the value of the goods is too low (in cases where the subject is not criminally prosecuted, only administrative sanctions are applied), because the value of the drugs at small retail establishments is very low (mostly under 1 million VND).

"The establishment sells fake Clorocid TW 3 medicine, the value of the medicine bottle is only about 30,000 VND, the establishment only has 2-3 medicine bottles for sale, if discovered, the establishment will only be fined from 2 to 6 million VND, the additional penalty is confiscation of the violating goods", Mr. Hung cited.

Dr. Do Thai Hoa, Deputy Director of Thanh Hoa Department of Health, also admitted that the sanctions are not strong enough to deter counterfeit drugs, but are being handled according to the value of the goods seized.

Therefore, there should be separate regulations and sanctions for counterfeit goods in the medical field because they are directly related to health. Some acts that are being handled administratively can be considered for criminal prosecution.

Mr. Le Minh Hai, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Food Safety, also admitted that handling violations is sometimes difficult when the production and business activities of the enterprise are related to many provinces and cities across the country.

Besides, he also pointed out some confusing points in handling violations from people's discovery, identifying business entities, and advertising in the electronic environment.

Handling this advertising violation is not under the authority of the Department. When coordinating with competent authorities, the processing time is slow.

Therefore, detection is difficult, but when detected, some cases are confusing to handle.

At the National Assembly discussion session on May 10, delegate Nguyen Duy Thanh (Ca Mau) said that no country requires manufacturers and traders to declare product conformity before manufacturing and bringing goods to market like Vietnam.

The delegate stated that state management agencies mainly focus on controlling conformity declaration procedures and pre-inspection requirements and conditions, neglecting post-inspection.

Consumers are deceived by advertising tricks that product quality and safety have been recognized by ministries and branches.

He further cited the lesson of the recent fake and poor quality milk case as "a typical example of negligence in post-control".

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/suc-khoe/pharmacity-thu-hoi-4-san-pham-lien-quan-cong-ty-lam-hang-gia-20250513105500896.htm