The Department of Health (DH) today (October 5) endorsed a licensed drug wholesaler, GlaxoSmithKline Ltd (GSK), to conduct a voluntary recall of one batch (batch no.: 2004) of Panadol Cold & Flu Hot Remedy - Lemon with Honey (Registration No.: HK-50932) from the market as there were some packs of the product with wrongly printed expiry date on sachets.
"The printing mistake comes to light following the enquiry received by GSK from a retailer. The correct expiry date for Panadol Cold & Flu Hot Remedy - Lemon with Honey (batch no.: 2004)is 07-2014. It was printed correctly on the outer box but the expiry date of some sachets was wrongly printed as 07-2004," a DH spokesman remarked.
Panadol Cold & Flu Hot Remedy - Lemon with Honey is manufactured by Smithkline Beecham S.A. in Spain. It contains paracetamol, phenylephrine and vitamin C as ingredients and is an over-the-counter drug used to relieve cold and flu symptoms.
GSK's sales record showed that 45,228 boxes of the affected batch were imported to Hong Kong on September 14, 2012 and 3,566 boxes were subsequently supplied to local pharmacies and medicine companies. The Certificate of Analysis showed that this batch was manufactured in July 2012 with expiry date 07-2014 and the product had passed all quality tests.
"This is the only batch distributed to Hong Kong since the introduction of the product," the spokesman deliberated.
GSK has set up a hotline 3189 8765 to answer related enquiries.
So far, DH has not received any adverse reports in connection with the product. DH will closely monitor the recall.
Reprinted from HKSAR Government web page:
http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201210/05/P201210050606.htm