The first traditional Chinese medicine approved by the Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will soon be available in several more drugstores in the country.
The drug called Lianhua Qingwen, manufactured by Shijiazhuang Yiling Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., is being used in China for COVID-19 cases with mild symptoms such as like difficulty in breathing, fever, and runny nose. However, it was only listed as a traditional drug.
In its formal launch in a webinar Monday, its official distributor, the Philippine Archipelago International Trading Corporation, said their FDA registration is valid until February 2021.
The medicine must be prescribed by an S2 licensed doctor. However, they are already requesting for it to be classified as “an over-the-counter drug” so it would be made readily accessible for COVID-19 cases with mild symptoms, according to Olivia Limpe-Aw, president of the Philippine Archipelago International Trading Corporation.
A box of the drug costs PHP288.
The distributor warned that people must buy only from licensed pharmacies. It is currently available in Southstar Drug stores and will soon be made available in two other big drugstores Mercury Drugs and Watsons.
Lianhua Qingwen is already being distributed in less than 20 countries including Brazil, Romania, and Singapore. In September, it had received a certificate of drug registration granted by the Pharmaceutical and Herbal Medicine Registration and Control Administration of Kuwait.
