South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Tuesday slapped 3M Korea and two local drugmakers with a temporary import, marketing and sales ban for breaching local pharmaceutical regulations.

The local branch of US-based 3M, 3M Korea, which produces and sells office supplies and medical products here, faces a one-month sales ban on three products the ministry found were imported and sold from 2011 to 2015 without undergoing proper declaration procedures.

The three 3M products include the 3M Clinpro Tooth Creme, 3M Tie-On Surgical Mask with Anti-Fog Shield and 3M Synthetic Stockinette, according to the ministry.
 

Dong-A Pharmaceutical, a local drugmaker that sells over-the-counter medicine, has been banned from advertising Bayer’s oral contraceptive drug Myvlar for one month for having produced misleading ads.

Dong-A Pharmaceutical owns the rights to manufacture, sell and market four of Bayer’s nonprescription contraceptive drugs, including Myvlar, in Korea under a deal signed in 2015.

Lee Pool Lip Pharmaceutical, a small drugmaker that sells herbal medicines, was given a three-month production ban for one of its product found to have excessive levels of cadmium, a toxic chemical.

Meanwhile, the ministry reportedly gave AstraZeneca Korea a warning for inadequate compliance to local import regulations for its schizophrenia treatment Seroquel (quetiapine). 

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)