The Department of Health says no further contamination has been found in samples of more than 300 drugs manufactured by Europharm, the drug maker involved in a fungal infection scandal.
The department held a press conference yesterday to announce that 359 drug samples, including those of 41 drugs supplied to public hospitals, had passed safety tests, as had all 39 samples of raw materials it took from the Tai Po-based pharmaceutical factory.
It was the department's first comprehensive release of test results for Europharm Laboratories' drugs since one of its products, Purinol, a form of allopurinol, was found to contain 10 times the permitted level of the fungus Rhizopus microsporus.
The contamination is believed to be linked to the deaths of six patients in local public hospitals. The factory has since suspended all production.
Director of Health Lam Ping-yan said the department would announce the results of tests on samples of more than 400 other Europharm drugs over the next few days.
'So far, we don't see that anyone should take criminal responsibility in this case,' Dr Lam said, adding that the department would consult the Department of Justice.
He said that following the tests, the Department of Health had told Europharm to conduct microbial checks on products and sterilise its facilities before resuming production.
A company spokesman said it had carried out thorough sterilisation of the factory and could also meet the department's requirement for microbe tests on its products. 'We promise to take a series of measures to step up quality control and improve production procedures.'
An earlier investigation by the department showed that some of the granules used to make Purinol, a gout medicine, were stored at the factory for as long as 14 days before they were turned into tablets. The long storage time was suspected to be the cause of the fungal infection.
To prevent similar incidents, Dr Lam said, the department would inspect production procedures at all local drug factories. In addition, overseas experts would be invited to give opinions on the city's drug certification and supervision system.
But he admitted it was impossible to check all the 19,000 kinds of drugs sold in the city.
The Hospital Authority said it would decide whether to resume the use of Europharm-made drugs for critical and new patients after the Department of Health completed all the tests.
An authority spokesman said it was seeking legal advice and studying drug supply contracts.
Ewan So Yiu-wah, president of the Society of Hospital Pharmacists, blamed the government for inadequate supervision of drug production.
'The government should not rely on the information provided by the drug factories,' he said. 'It must have a third party to conduct checks, including the microbe test, before drugs go into the market.'
Mr So also said the department needed more staff to inspect the drug market.
'As far as we know, there are only some 20 people who are overseeing the 39 drug factories and more than 500 pharmacies across the city,' he said. 'How can they check out all the problems in time?'
