HSA rolling out database of safe supplements, traditional medicines

The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) will be introducing a voluntary notification initiative from Aug 1 for companies that deal with health supplements and traditional medicines.

The initiative, which will be rolled out in phases, aims to establish a database of safe and certified health products that consumers can refer to before buying. HSA said this will allow for better traceability and follow-up actions by the authority if there are safety or quality issues.

The initiative will be the first publicly available database of its type by HSA, said a spokesman for the authority.

Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary said in a speech at the 31st Singapore Pharmacy Congress yesterday: "We hope pharmacists will play an important role in supporting this initiative by advising patients and consumers to refer to this database when considering suitable health supplements and traditional medicines."

HSA will start with commonly bought products, such as vitamin and mineral supplements, and products at higher risk of adulteration, such as those for weight loss, pain relief and male vitality enhancement. The subsequent phases will gradually include other product categories.

HSA said it conducted industry consultations and received support from industry players prior to launching the initiative.

This comes after a number of cases in which people suffered adverse effects after buying and using health supplements and products.

For example, in June 2018, a woman in her 20s experienced a rapid heartbeat, anxiety, dizziness and lethargy after consuming Nutriline Bluvelle - a slimming product that claimed to be "natural" and "safe".

She had purchased the product from an online shop based in Malaysia.

The product was tested by HSA and found to contain a banned ingredient, sibutramine, which was withdrawn from Singapore from October 2010 because of an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes associated with its use.

The authority prohibits the addition of medicinal ingredients such as steroids and sets strict limits on toxic heavy metals in health supplements and traditional medicines.

It is each individual company's decision to submit a voluntary notification to be included in the database. Products on shelves at stores such as supermarkets, and Watsons and Guardian outlets, will remain available.

Companies that want their products included in the database need to be locally registered with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority.

They must also provide HSA with the relevant documents to demonstrate that their products meet the necessary safety and quality standards.

Only products that are compliant with the necessary regulatory standards can be in the database.

Companies may start submitting their documents from Aug 1. A fee is not required to submit a product notification.

Further information on the submission procedure and requirements is available at HSA's website: https://www.hsa.gov.sg/health-supplements/vns

The authority will also be holding training sessions to assist companies in submitting notifications, and will share more details with industry players at a later date.