Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/20
By: Chang Ming-hsun and Evelyn Kao
Taipei, March 20 (CNA) Two types of medication, including the antidepressant Prozac,
TPMA Chairman Su Tung-mao (蘇東茂)
will be pulled from Taiwan’s market next month, the Taiwan Pharmaceutical Manufacturer’s Association (TPMA) said Wednesday.
The move comes after pharmaceutical manufacturers have been feeling the pinch of rising costs of raw materials, as well as reimbursement cuts for drugs covered by Taiwan’s National Health Insurance system.
Prozac (also known by its generic name fluoxetine), an antidepressant known as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), and Tienam, an antibiotic used in complicated infections, are to be withdrawn from Taiwan, according to TPMA.
Local pharmaceutical company Zuellig Pharma announced earlier this month that it will stop selling Prozac in Taiwan from April 1, citing rising costs of transport and raw materials and price cuts by the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA).
[FULL STORY]
