Online sellers Shopee, Lazada ordered to stop peddling medicines

MANILA, Philippines—The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ordered online stores, mainly Shopee and Lazada, to stop selling medicines.

The order followed a warning made by FDA to consumers against buying medicines online.

In a statement, the FDA said the order would strengthen the enforcement of rules against online selling of health products.

“Major online selling platforms, such as Shopee Philippines and Lazada Philippines, are strictly mandated to observe compliance in the said advisory,”  the FDA said.

The agency added that, through its regulatory enforcement unit, it had given notice through summons to the two biggest online stores in the Philippines to cease and desist from selling health and other medicinal products unless they had a license to do so from the FDA.

“The FDA is adamant in implementing the law in order to ensure the safety of the Filipino people and the general public as a whole,” the agency said in its statement.

“The continuous online selling of any of these drug products will place the lives of the general public in danger and at risk.,” it added.

Ex-FDA chair Charade Puno, who was sacked by President Rodrigo Duterte for unspecified acts of corruption, had been cracking down on unregistered health products months before her termination.

One of the businesses that Puno ordered closed was the Dr. Farrah Agustin Bunch Natural Medical Center which offered “natural cancer treatment” but which the FDA, under Puno, found to be selling unregistered health products.  (Editor: Tony Bergonia)