The Food and Drugs Board (FDB) has ordered the immediate withdrawal of substandard antibiotics produced by two Chinese companies from the local market. The drugs are Cipro-Dor (Ciprofloxacin Hydrochlroride) and Clavu-Dor (Amoxicilin 500mg and Cluvulanic Acid 125 mg) produced by Shijazhuang Pharmaceutical Group, Ouyi Pharma Company Limited in China and Shandong Reyoung Pharmaceuticals Company Limited in China, respectively. Cipro-Dor is used in the treatment of diseases including typhoid fever, urinary tract infections and bone joint infections, while Clavu-Dor is used for upper respiratory tract infections, dental infections and lower respiratory tract infections. According to a statement signed by the Chief Executive of the FDB, Dr Stephen K. Opuni, the products, which were sampled and analysed through the FDB's post-market surveillance activities, showed that they were unwholesome. It said laboratory analysis conducted on the samples submitted for registration by the two companies conformed to their respective specifications (of the right quality) according to which they were manufactured and for which reason they were permitted to be sold in Ghana. However, the statement said, samples of the antibiotics selected from pharmacy shops nation-wide and analysed at the FDB laboratory showed that they were substandard. It said what had been done by the two Chinese companies was in contravention of Section 14 of the Food and Drugs Law (PNDCL 305B, 1992) and its subsequent amendment Act 523 (1996). The FDB said patients who had been put on those medications might be at risk, since they could not cure the diseases for which they were prescribed because of the unwholesome nature of the drugs. "The Food and Drugs Board wishes to assure consumers that it will continuously monitor the quality of regulated products (under its mandate) on the market and will take the appropriate regulatory actions whenever substandard products are detected," it said. The statement called on members of the public to provide information on persons suspected to be manufacturing or importing illegally or in any practice that endangered public health and safety with FDB mandate on 0244337235 and 0244385086. Source: Daily Graphic