Former VN Pharma’s chairman of the Board of Directors cum general director Nguyen Manh Hung (right, first line), former director of H&C International Marine Trade Company Vo Manh Cuong (left, first line) and seven other defendants are at the appeal court in Hanoi on October 19(Photo: vietnamnet.vn) HCM City (VNA) - The High-level People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City started hearing anappeal by pharmaceutical company VN Pharma on October 19, in thecase related to the smuggling and forging of documents to importcancer drug.
The case involved former VNPharma’s chairman of the Board of Directors cum General Director Nguyen Manh Hung, formerdirector of H&C International Marine Trade Company Vo Manh Cuong and sevenother defendants.
In a trial inAugust, the HCM City People’s Court sentenced Hung and Cuong to 12 yearsbehind bars for smuggling. Cuong bought the drugs from an overseas sourceand later, sold them to VN Pharma. The other seven defendantswere given sentences between 18 months and fiveyears of imprisonment.
After the firsttrial hearing, Hung and Cuong appealed against the court’s judgment, askingfor a lighter sentence.
On September 22, the High-levelPeople’s Procuracy in HCM City protested the court’s judgment, asking forclarification on Hung’s charge,which should have been “smuggling” or “manufacturing and/ortrading in fake goods claiming to be curative medicines, preventivemedicines”.
The People’s Procuracy alsoasked for clarification on the alleged irresponsibilityof the Drug Administration of Vietnam (DAV) under the Ministryof Health in allowing Hung and other defendants to import the allegedfake cancer drugs to Vietnam, while also giving commissionto doctors to prescribe the drug to patients.
Earlier on August 29,Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Viet Tien issued a press release clarifying theministry’s responsibilities in connection with the licensing for VN Pharma toimport 9,300 boxes of H-Capita 500mg in 2013. H-Capita 500mg containedcapecitabine, which is mainly used to treat breast, gastric andcolorectal cancers.
According to the pressrelease, the DAV on October 16, 2013, received a request from VN Pharma toimport the H-Capita drug manufactured by Helix Pharmaceuticals Inc of Canada.
The DAV approved the importrequest two months later on December 30, 2013.
"TheDAV conducted the drug evaluation process with right order,right protocols and right regulations without any favouritism," the pressrelease stated.
"According to the law,a drug import request must include the free sale certificate (FSC) and thecertificate for good manufacturing practices (GMP).
VN Pharma had all thenecessary papers. However, an investigation later uncovered that thepapers were expertly forged and the fraud could not be detected with the nakedeye," the release said.
The release stressed thatthe DAV, however, raised doubts about the drugs when itlooked into VN Pharma’s drug bidding price, which was suspiciously lowerthan that of the same type of drugs manufactured by other countries.
The DAV on July 31, 2014,asked VN Pharma to explain the gap, which it failed to do, prompting the DAV tosuspend the import and distribution of H-Capita on August 1, 2014.
The DAV in August seizedthe drugs following an unusual inspection at VN Pharma and reported the case tothe police after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmedthat the papers related to Helix Pharmaceutical, the drug manufacturer,were all fake.-VNA
The case involved former VNPharma’s chairman of the Board of Directors cum General Director Nguyen Manh Hung, formerdirector of H&C International Marine Trade Company Vo Manh Cuong and sevenother defendants.
In a trial inAugust, the HCM City People’s Court sentenced Hung and Cuong to 12 yearsbehind bars for smuggling. Cuong bought the drugs from an overseas sourceand later, sold them to VN Pharma. The other seven defendantswere given sentences between 18 months and fiveyears of imprisonment.
After the firsttrial hearing, Hung and Cuong appealed against the court’s judgment, askingfor a lighter sentence.
On September 22, the High-levelPeople’s Procuracy in HCM City protested the court’s judgment, asking forclarification on Hung’s charge,which should have been “smuggling” or “manufacturing and/ortrading in fake goods claiming to be curative medicines, preventivemedicines”.
The People’s Procuracy alsoasked for clarification on the alleged irresponsibilityof the Drug Administration of Vietnam (DAV) under the Ministryof Health in allowing Hung and other defendants to import the allegedfake cancer drugs to Vietnam, while also giving commissionto doctors to prescribe the drug to patients.
Earlier on August 29,Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Viet Tien issued a press release clarifying theministry’s responsibilities in connection with the licensing for VN Pharma toimport 9,300 boxes of H-Capita 500mg in 2013. H-Capita 500mg containedcapecitabine, which is mainly used to treat breast, gastric andcolorectal cancers.
According to the pressrelease, the DAV on October 16, 2013, received a request from VN Pharma toimport the H-Capita drug manufactured by Helix Pharmaceuticals Inc of Canada.
The DAV approved the importrequest two months later on December 30, 2013.
"TheDAV conducted the drug evaluation process with right order,right protocols and right regulations without any favouritism," the pressrelease stated.
"According to the law,a drug import request must include the free sale certificate (FSC) and thecertificate for good manufacturing practices (GMP).
VN Pharma had all thenecessary papers. However, an investigation later uncovered that thepapers were expertly forged and the fraud could not be detected with the nakedeye," the release said.
The release stressed thatthe DAV, however, raised doubts about the drugs when itlooked into VN Pharma’s drug bidding price, which was suspiciously lowerthan that of the same type of drugs manufactured by other countries.
The DAV on July 31, 2014,asked VN Pharma to explain the gap, which it failed to do, prompting the DAV tosuspend the import and distribution of H-Capita on August 1, 2014.
The DAV in August seizedthe drugs following an unusual inspection at VN Pharma and reported the case tothe police after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmedthat the papers related to Helix Pharmaceutical, the drug manufacturer,were all fake.-VNA
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