DAMMAM, 3 April — The Ministry of Health has warned against use of medicaments containing phenylpropanolamine (PPA) as the drug would increase the risk of brain hemorrhage. The ministry has instructed health directorates across the Kingdom to warn the people against the use of 21 medical preparations which contain PPA. It has ordered medical shops to withdraw these medicines from their shelves.
Abdul Aziz Al-Kharashi, director of medical and pharmaceutical licensing department at the ministry in the Eastern Province, said ministry officials would inspect medical shops and pharmaceutical companies to ensure that they comply with the instructions. The drug is an ingredient used in medications for common cold and cough as a decongestant. It is also used in products for weight loss.
Studies have established that the drug is particularly harmful to women as it leads to bleeding in the brain or in tissues surrounding the brain. Men are not totally safe from its hazards.
The medical services at the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu also banned its medical service units from using medications containing PPA and directed them to return such preparations to the importers.
A field study conducted by Arab News on Sunday discovered that most of the medical shops in Jubail, Dammam and Riyadh stocked the medicines and continued to sell them. The shop employees said they had not received any instructions regarding the ban.
Muhammad Abdul Samee of the Western Establishment for Trade and Contracting, an importing company of some brands containing PPA, said his company had withdrawn the medicines from the market four months ago because of drug-related complications in women using medicines against obesity.
