Tobinco ordered to return medicines to suppliers
There seems to be no end to the woes of Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Limited, even with the intervention of Parliament, as the long arm of the law keeps pursuing the company and its chief executive officer (CEO).
Advertisement
This time around, it is not about the importation of unregistered medicines but obstructing public officers from performing their duties.
That led to the arrest and detention of the CEO, Mr Samuel Tobin, at the Nima Police Station by operatives of the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) last Monday.
But the management of the company has described the latest action as pure harassment, intimidation and the use of inferior tactics by the powers that be.
The latest development comes as the dust appeared to be settling on the whole issue.
Although Mr Tobin did not spend the night in police cells, hundreds of workers and sympathisers thronged the Nima Police Station to demand his release, as they considered his detention as harassment by the security agencies.
He was released after his lawyers had signed a bond of GH¢1 million and he had been subsequently charged for obstructing public officers from performing their duty.
On November 28, this year, the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health called for a halt to the media war between Tobinco Pharmaceutical, the Ministry of Health and the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSG), on the one hand, and the Food and Drugs Board (FDA), on the other.
But when things were thought to be calming down, Mr Tobin was detained at the EOCO offices from 10 a.m. till about 3 p.m. last Monday, when he was transferred to the Nima Police Station to spend the night.
Mr Tobin had gone to the offices to report himself, as his bail bond expected him to report himself at 10 a.m. every Monday pending the conclusion of investigations into the alleged importation and distribution of unregistered and fake anti-malaria drugs from India.
According to the spokesperson of the company, Mr Albert Kwabena Dwumfuor, as a law-abiding citizen, Mr Tobin had reported himself, as he had been doing since he was granted bail.
He said Mr Tobin was then asked to wait, as the Executive Director of EOCO wanted to see him.
He alleged that the executive director did not take kindly to allegations that Mr Tobin had urged his workers to obstruct officials of the office and the FDA from carrying out their lawful duties two weeks ago.
FDA directs Tobinco
Meanwhile, reports picked by the Daily Graphic indicate that the FDA had asked Tobinco to re-export the unregistered medicines to their countries of origin.
The reports said the re-export must be done by December 10, 2013.
Explaining what had happened two weeks ago, Mr Dwumfuor said EOCO and FDA officials visited the premises of Entrance Industries and Research Centre, a subsidiary of Tobinco Pharmaceuticals Limited, on the Spintex Road to lock up the factory.
He said the workers requested for a warrant for the action.
According to him, a driver of the company was arrested by EOCO officials for allegedly filming proceedings on the company’s premises.
That, he said, raised the adrenalin of the workers, who started agitating that the officials leave the premises, since it was a manufacturing plant yet to start production, and not a warehouse, as the officials claimed.
Mr Dwumfuor said Mr Tobin arrived on the premises about 4:30 p.m. to meet the EOCO and FDA officials and asked what they sought on the premises.
He said Mr Tobin questioned the officials why they were harassing and intimidating him like that, since EOCO and FDA had locked up two warehouses of Tobinco at Kotobabi and Alajo.
Moreover, he said, Mr Tobin explained to the officials that Entrance Industries and Research Centre was a manufacturing plant yet to start the production of pharmaceutical products.
He said without uttering a word, the officials left the company premises until last Monday, when Mr Tobin was detained for the events that had happened two weeks earlier.
EOCO reacts
But a source at EOCO told the Daily Graphic that the organisation did nothing untoward.
He said it was the legitimate and constitutional right of EOCO to investigate issues such as the one under contention.
According to the source, EOCO would issue a press statement by the close of day today to clarify issues.
Background
Tobinco applied for an interim injunction at the Accra High Court against the FDA to restrain it from further destroying the products of the company .
Although Tobinco claims to have complied with all the laws in relation to the importation of drugs into the country, particularly the Public Health Act 2012, Act 851, there has been counter-claims by the FDA.
The company averred that after the registration of a particular drug with the FDA, it started distributing that drug throughout the country and added that it was only when the drug had been certified and registered with the FDA that it went ahead to distribute it.
According to the company, in September 2013, the FDA, which detected that some drug had not gone through clinical trials in India, summoned Tobinco and the Indian manufacturer and the manufacturer explained that since the drug had already gone through clinical test, it was thought that there was no need for it to go through further clinical trials.
Not satisfied with the explanation, the FDA imposed a GH¢40,000 fine on Tobinco for the importation of an unregistered drug, which was duly settled.
Since then, the feud between the two parties has degenerated into a media war, with FDA sticking to its ground that Tobinco has violated some regulations, while Tobinco insists that it has done nothing wrong.
Writer’s email: [email protected]