RIYADH, 21 December 2005 — “There are no safety concerns with Panadol Extra,” GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the manufacturer of the Panadol range of products, and Saudi International Trading Company (SITCO), the official distributor of Panadol in Saudi Arabia, said yesterday. “Rumors currently circulating about batch number 050292 are false,” the manufacturer said in a statement. “The Ministry of Health Central Laboratory in KSA and GlaxoSmithKline Laboratory in UK have conducted laboratory analysis, and both confirm the safety of the product,” the company said, adding that the batch meets the “high quality and registered standards for Panadol Extra; the product is genuine and can be safely used be consumers.”
“Our consumers can be assured that Panadol is safe,” said Abdullah Abdulwahed of GSK Scientific Office manager. “Analytical testing by the Saudi Arabia MOH Central Laboratory and GSK laboratory in UK confirms that Panadol conforms to all applicable standards. Panadol is a trusted analgesic, having been safely used by millions of people for many years.”
According to the official statement, rumors about Panadol Extra not being safe were circulated through emails, SMS’s and through many articles in local newspapers. GlaxoSmithKline & SITCO Pharma stated that the batch referred to is a genuine Panadol Extra product and not smuggled as alleged in some articles. “Samples of this batch were collected by the MOH from the customs at Riyadh dry port and sent to the MOH laboratory for analysis. MOH communicated to the company that the tested samples from this batch did not pass the analysis parameters and did not meet the standard of the product specifications. All attempts were made to isolate this batch & freeze sale.”
Samples of the above batch were sent to the company’s manufacturing site in Ireland/UK for retesting. The results of the analysis proved that the product is absolutely of high quality standards and that it is fit for human use. Based on this, the company sent an official letter to the Ministry of Health asking them to take another set of samples for retesting.
The MOH collected samples of the quarantined batch from SITCO Warehouse for retesting purpose at the Central Laboratory of the Ministry of Health in Riyadh. The results confirmed that Panadol Extra Batch No. 050292 meets the high quality standards as stipulated and can be safely used by the consumers. The Central Laboratory confirmed the samples that were initially analyzed were kept in unknown storage conditions for 14 days before reaching the Ministry of Health Laboratory.
