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The Department of Health (DH) today (February 15) advised healthcare professionals not to use injection needles supplied together with Lucentis Intravitreal Injection packs (Registration No. HK-55638) which have shown blockage problems.
The DH received notification from Novartis Pharmaceuticals (HK) Ltd, the registration holder of the concerned pharmaceutical product in Hong Kong, that a number of complaints regarding blocked injection needles have been received. Investigation by the needle manufacturer, Becton-Dickinson, revealed that needle blockage is related to the presence of residual epoxy resin, which is used to attach the needle to the plastic hub.
Batch numbers of the concerned needles are 100224 and 100609. Five batches of Lucentis injection packs contain the affected needles, namely S0043, S0044, S0047, S0049 and S0050.
Lucentis Intravitreal Injection is a prescription drug used for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Around 1,340 boxes were supplied to public hospitals, private hospitals and private doctors.
No adverse event reports concerning the product have been received by DH so far.
A spokesman of the DH said: "According to the information in hand, the problem only involves the accompanying injection needle and there is currently no evidence showing the concerned drug itself has quality issue.
"Healthcare professionals should use other alternate needles for injection and observe necessary procedures when preparing and administering the injection."
Novartis Pharmaceuticals (HK) Ltd has set up a hotline, 2881 4272, for public enquiries from Monday to Friday (9am to 6pm).
Patients should seek advice from healthcare providers if in doubt or feel unwell.
Ends/Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Issued at HKT 20:02
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