KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society (MPS) has applauded the health ministry, the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) and Hovid Bhd for their transparency and accountability in addressing Hovid’s product recall and licence revocation.

“All parties acted fast in getting the information to the public,” said MPS president Amrahi Buang in a statement yesterday.

He was commenting on the “transparent, efficient and responsible” handling of the recent recall of Ternolol 50mg tablets by all three parties, as well as the subsequent cancellation of Hovid’s manufacturing licences.

“However, our main concern is the safety of the product users and we hope that all the medication in circulation is returned to Hovid soon,” Amrahi said.

Although it would not speculate about the root cause as the investigation is still ongoing, the MPS said the society and its members had helped made the message go viral on social media with other pharmacists to ensure that the recall information was shared widely.

Amrahi said the Malaysian public lack awareness of the regulatory process in the country, adding that the people are not well informed of how to check for registered products and are unclear about recall procedures.

“Due to the lack of understanding, many incorrect assumptions are made and shared on social media in an irresponsible manner,” he said.

Nevertheless, he said the NPRA is tasked with ensuring that therapeutic substances approved for the local market are safe, efficacious and of quality via product registration, licensing (manufacture, import and wholesale), monitoring of adverse drug reactions and market surveillance.

Amrahi added that the NPRA only approves a drug registration after it has undergone a stringent screening and approval process of between six and 18 months, depending on product classification.

Once a drug has been approved, regular post-market surveillance is done to ensure registration compliance.