Health Ministry affirms safety of ‘Glucophage 500 mg’ imported from European countries

Doha: The Ministry of Public Health confirmed the safety of “Glucophage 500 mg”, which is produced by Merck and imported from Europe.

Merck has branches in several European countries, including Germany, France and Britain, from where the drug is imported to Qatar.

The Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that the drug is safe and there are no warnings about it from any international organization.

There was message doing the rounds of social media about the safety of ‘Metaphage 500mg’ tablets. But authorities confirmed in a statement that this is about the tablets manufactured by Kuwait Saudi Pharmaceutical Industries Co and these are withdrawn and destroyed.

The Pharmacy and Drug Control Department at the Ministry said that with regard to what was circulated through social media about ‘Metaphage 500mg’ tablets, manufactured by Kuwait Saudi Pharmaceutical Industries Co, a circular was issued by the Central Gulf Committee for Drug Registration to withdraw the drug from the Gulf markets for not passing the bioequivalence study.

On May 6, the Department of Pharmacy issued a circular to alert the local agent to stop selling the drug and withdraw the existing quantities in Qatar and destroyed them under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Health.

The Department of Pharmacy stressed its keenness on the health and safety of citizens and residents, and that it takes all preventive measures to prevent the selling of any pharmaceutical product that does not meet the international standards.

It also stressed that it is in constant contact with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other health bodies regarding medicines and pharmaceuticals.

It called on users of social media to investigate the accuracy of the source of information before publication, and refer to the competent official sources at the Ministry of Public Health before publishing any thing without evidence or scientific basis.