Prescription medications Aprovel 150mg and Prozac will be gradually withdrawn from the pharmaceutical market from November this year. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Deputy Director Wang Te-yuan (王德原) said in an interview on Monday that the brand name medications will no longer be available from their manufacturer. However, he ensures the public that domestic pharmaceutical companies are ramping up production of the same content and dosage to take their place and patients will not be affected.
Aprovel accounted for 67% of prescriptions written to lower blood pressure last year. National Health Insurance Administration (NHI) pharmaceutical materials consultant Tai Hsueh-yung (戴雪詠) said that after consultation with clinicians, 300mg dosages and many generic drugs with the same ingredients are options for clinical use.
Prozac accounted for only 15.3% of antidepressant prescriptions last year and the NHI covers 11 alternative medications with identical content and dosage. Tai said that internationally, advanced pharmaceutical markets no longer supply Prozac, which has been available for nearly 40 years. Domestic generic drugs with the same ingredients as Prozac account for 85% of the market, indicating that clinicians have generally accepted generic versions.