Exposed but Still... 'Bold' Companies Continue Selling Unauthorized Hand Sanitizers
On January 29th, hand sanitizer products were sold out at large supermarkets in Seoul. Source=Yonhap News
View original image[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 9th that it has referred seven individuals, including the representatives of six companies, to the prosecution on charges of violating the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act for manufacturing and selling hand sanitizers without authorization or notification, exploiting the high demand for hand sanitizers amid the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).
According to the Ministry, the six companies that manufactured unauthorized and unreported quasi-drugs conspired together and produced 6,125,200 hand sanitizers worth approximately 9.1 billion KRW from February 5 to April 16, distributing and selling 4,042,175 units in the market.
These companies concealed the unauthorized and unreported manufacturing by colluding with companies that had registered hand sanitizer products, receiving semi-finished contents from quasi-drug manufacturers, and then filling and packaging the hand sanitizers at cosmetic manufacturers or directly manufacturing the hand sanitizers at cosmetic manufacturers.
Even after being booked as suspects and under investigation, they continued to manufacture hand sanitizer contents at cosmetic manufacturers and evaded judicial authorities’ surveillance by changing filling and packaging locations, manufacturing and selling more products without authorization or notification than initially detected. The additionally detected quantity is about 4.61 million units, which is three times the initially detected 1.51 million units.
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The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety stated, "We will strictly investigate violating companies to eradicate illegal manufacturing and distribution activities exploiting the spread of COVID-19," and added, "We plan to continuously investigate acts of illegally manufacturing and selling hand sanitizers without registering manufacturing business."
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