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The health industry is in disarray at the import and sale of valsartan made in China, which causes cancer. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Monday banned the sale of 115 hypertension drugs containing valsartan from Zhejiang Huahai in China.
Valsartan lowers blood pressure by suppressing the secretion of hormones that clog the blood vessels. The discovery of carcinogenic NDMA in valsartan made in China seriously undermines the credibility and sales of Korean pharmaceutical companies that manufacture their hypertension drugs with imported valsartan.
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 178,536 diabetic patients in Korea were prescribed prohibited drugs. Other medicines containing valsartan are still sold, which raises fears that the cancer was even more numerous.
The scandal erupted when the European Medicines Agency announced the discovery of carcinogenic compounds in Chinese valsartan. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety quickly followed suit by banning the production and sale of 219 pharmaceutical products that may contain valsartan. Health officials conducted on-site inspections and approved 104 products that did not contain valsartan.
Most banned products were generic versions of Diovan's hypertension drug manufactured by Novartis. Diovan does not contain valsartan made in China and has not been banned.
But many small Korean pharmaceutical companies that manufactured generic Diovan are facing an emergency situation. According to Ubist market research, sales of 115 types of prohibited hypertension drugs amounted to 39 billion won on the basis of prescriptions (US $ 1 = $ 1,117).
Most of them are small and medium businesses that generate less than $ 100 billion in sales a year and many frantically contact foreign drug manufacturers in the hope of increasing their range of products, but the prospects are anything but optimistic.
Meanwhile, the patients who took the drugs are in the arms because they are now unable to fill their prescriptions. Some pharmaceutical companies have recalled their products and discussed with hospitals how to provide replacements. But most drug manufacturers simply have to wait for other instructions from the department.
A staff member of a small pharmaceutical company said, "The cost of recovery of all our products is huge, so we are waiting for the final results of the departmental investigation."
The Fears can spread to other drugs since Korea has become extremely dependent on China for crude pharmaceuticals. According to the Korea Pharmaceutical Traders Association, Korea imported 2,066 billion won of raw materials last year for drugs, including 615.4 billion won from China.
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