JSC calls for urgent action to stem unregulated drugs

A JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE (JSC) of Parliament on January 24 urged action to stem the import and sale of the weight-loss drug Ozempic, now being sold in an unregulated manner across TT. The committee also examined the sale of the popular vitamin C supplement Emergen-C.

The JSC on Local Authorities, Service Commissions and Statutory Authorities (including the THA) – chaired by Independent Senator Sunity Maharaj – interviewed officials from the Ministry of Health and the council of the Pharmacy Board. Maharaj asked about the suitcase trade in pharmaceuticals.

Board member Quentin Dyer proffered that this may be a matter for the Customs and Excise Division not the Ministry of Health. However, he said officers of the ministry's Food and Drugs Unit were on duty at ports but were seemingly bypassed by individuals bringing in pharmaceuticals. Maharaj got confirmation that Food and Drugs officers came from the ministry and she remarked that this issue therefore might not be only a matter for Customs and Excise.

Board secretary/treasurer Sanjay Mohammed said Ozempic was not registered for sale in TT but was available at places like beauty parlours and gyms and by individuals offering it by delivery. He warned that drug has side-effects and may end up in the hands of individuals not trained to administer it.

Mohammed said Emergen-C was not regulated for sale in TT but had been very helpful during the covid19 pandemic. "It is illegal, but is it injurious to public health?" he asked.

He said it might have not been regulated because the amount of paperwork required by the Food and Drug Division may have simply been too much hassle for an item earning just say $2 per sale.

The ministry's principal pharmacist Anesa Doodnath-Siboo said the it was aware of the sale of Ozempic. Active investigations were now under way into this, she said, including using information gathered from social media.

She revealed a less clear-cut case for Emergen-C. She said this product is allowed into TT if manufactured in Washington DC – where the plant has been approved by inspection – but not if made in Florida where the plant was not yet approved.

The ministry's legal advisor Mala Kowlessar-Tagallie said the ministry had noted 84 breaches by pharmacies selling unregulated which had since been sent to the police. Maharaj lamented a seeming lack of follow-up enforcement against the alleged breaches, saying it was "astonishing" that no one has yet been charged.

Doodnath-Siboo noted "a marked decrease in the number of unregulated products we are finding on the shelves."

Maharaj in reply wondered if the unregulated trade had simply "gone underground."

Earlier, in an initial discussion about CDAP drugs, board president Ricardo Mohammed noted the small pharmacies were able to buy generic drugs abroad, as he urged an improvement in the processes and timeliness by which were regulated for sale in TT.

Later, he asked how much regulation was really needed for vitamins, as he urged that the process to register items like Emergen-C be made easier.

Maharaj asked who was administering Ozempic to people, such as gyms or medical doctors. "Do we have to wait for someone to die?"

Doodnath-Siboo said under the law, if unregulated products were being sold the authorities were empowered to go in and check on this.

Deputy permanent secretary Stephen Boodram said last year his ministry had hired ten more inspectors and hoped to get ten more, towards a targeted strength of 30.

Earlier, Sanjay Mohammed said the Pharmacy Board had about 1,725 names on its register, which registers pharmacies and pharmacists.

JSC members Khadijah Ameen and Lawrence Hislop respectively questioned the adequacy of the registration fees to fund the board and the methodology used to decide it. In reply, Sanjay Mohammed gave his personal recommendation for an increase from $150 to $500 per year for a pharmacist and from $800 to $2,500 per pharmacy.