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Three people released on bail in diet pill case
Central News Agency
2013-10-26 09:37 PM
Taipei, Oct. 26 (CNA) Three top executives from two biotech companies were released on bail Saturday after being questioned by Taipei district prosecutors overnight on health authorities' findings that their weight-loss product contained an unapproved drug.
Tseng Hsin-yi, general manager of Geneherbs Taiwan Ltd., was required to pay bail of NT$2 million (US$68,000) after being accused of selling a questionable supplement in violation of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. Huang Chen-kang, owner of Wellcare Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., was released on bail of NT$3 million and Wellcare's R&D division chief Yeh Mei-keng on NT$2 million.
They were both accused of violating the act, according to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office. The diet capsule Wellslim Plus, produced by Wellcare and marketed by Geneherbs as a weight loss supplement, was found to contain the drug cetilistat, which is still undergoing clinical trials and has not been approved for use in Taiwan, the country's Food and Drug Administration confirmed earlier this week.
Wellcare has denied that it deliberately used the drug, which is designed to treat obesity, and has speculated it may have been introduced in tainted raw materials, according to local media reports. Meanwhile, prosecutors said Lien Hui-hsin, the eldest daughter of former Vice President Lien Chan, may also be involved since she is believed to be a Geneherbs stockholder, and may be called in for questioning.
They will investigate whether or not Lien Hui-hsin plays a role in Geneherbs' management as a shareholder since Lien, a good friend of Tseng, has advertised for Wellslim Plus, the prosecutors said.
At a press conference Saturday, opposition Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lee Ying-yuan and Taipei City Councilor Juan Chao-hsiung said, in addition to having been a spokesperson for the product, based on Tseng's testimony to investigators, Lien is also the person in charge of Geneherbs operations.
The two opposition politicians demanded that Lien take responsibility for the incident and apologize to the public. In response, Lien's lawyer Fang Wen-shuan released a statement saying that Lien is not a Geneherbs manager and has never received any payments from the company.
The companies are now investigating what went wrong with the product, the statement said. The latest food safety issue arose on the heels of scandals involving bread and cooking oil products over the past few months.
(By Liu Shih-yi, Wen Kuei-hsiang, Lee Shu-hua and Elizabeth Hsu)
