Vietnamese investigation police have identified the lax management of the Drug Administration of Vietnam (DAV), which operates under the Ministry of Health, in the case of sale of fake cancer medicine by VN Pharma. The police on September 18 decided to prosecute the criminal case of lacking responsibility causing serious consequences at the DAV and related agencies. The police stepped in two days after the Government Inspectorate (GI) asked for them to consider the case for possible crimes. The scandal broke in 2014 when suspicions were raised over the origin of the H-Capita 500mg medicine and authorities launched an investigation. Nguyen Manh Hung, VN Pharma’s former general director, ordered underlings to forge papers for the Helix company in order to get licenses to bring the medicine into Vietnam. Tests by the health ministry concluded that 97% of the H-Capita drug consisted of capecitabine – a chemotherapy medication used to treat breast, gastric and colorectal cancer. However, the medicine was of unknown origin, subpar quality and its packaging failed to prove the drugs were safe to treat human diseases. Up to 12 people have been prosecuted in the case so far while the authorities started looking into the responsibilities of the health ministry. (Thanh Nien, bbc, Thanh Nien, Tin Tuc, VietStock)
