Not So Complementary: Confidence in Australia’s complementary medicines industry has been shaken after the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) suspended the production licence of Pan Pharmaceuticals-Australia’s leading manufacturer of complementary medicines.
After a 3-month audit, the TGA suspended Pan’s licence for 6 months on April 28. The audit found evidence of manipulation of test results,
substandard manufacturing processes, and substitution of ingredients. The TGA also ordered an urgent recall of 1546 products made by
Pan.
The TGA first became aware of Pan Pharmaceuticals after reports of adverse reactions to its anti-travel sickness product, Travacalm, in
January. Faulty batches of the product were responsible for 19 people being admitted to hospital and 68 people having serious adverse
reactions. The TGA subsequently found that some batches of the tablets contained up to seven times the amount of the active
ingredient–hyoscine hydrobromide.
The Lancet 17th of May.