Production of Prozac, an antidepressant, would end globally at the end of this year, drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co said in a press release yesterday after announcing in August that the drug would soon be withdrawn from the Taiwan market.
The decision to end production of the drug is based on an adjustment of its corporate strategy, the Taiwan branch of the US multinational firm said.
Medical professionals have been asked to suspend prescribing Prozac to new patients and assist them to prescribe alternatives, the company added.
Photo courtesy of the Federation of Taiwan Pharmacists Associations
Prozac is a brand name for fluoxetine.
The company’s Prozac Dispersible 20mg product accounted for 15.3 percent of the domestic market, with 2.92 million tablets covered by National Health Insurance (NHI) last year, Ministry of Health and Welfare data showed.
Food and Drug Administration Deputy Director-General Wang Te-yuan (王德原) said that Eli Lilly and Co on June 24 notified the agency that it would stop providing Prozac in Taiwan from next month.
However, the drugmaker stopped domestic supply early, ending it last month, Wang said.
There are other antidepressants with similar ingredients produced by local drugmakers, including Chunghwa Yuming Healthcare Co, he said, adding that those companies have already said they would ramp up production if clinical demand makes it necessary.
Prozac first entered the market nearly 40 years ago and the market share of generic versions in Taiwan has reached 85 percent, National Health Insurance Administration official Tai Hsueh-yung (戴雪詠) said.
There are 11 generic alternatives that are covered by the NHI, Tai said.
It is normal for pharmaceutical firms to retire brands from the international market after their patents expire, with cheaper generic drugs taking their place, Tai said.
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
Tourism in Kenting fell to a historic low for the second consecutive year last year, impacting hotels and other local businesses that rely on a steady stream of domestic tourists, the latest data showed. A total of 2.139 million tourists visited Kenting last year, down slightly from 2.14 million in 2024, the data showed. The number of tourists who visited the national park on the Hengchun Peninsula peaked in 2015 at 8.37 million people. That number has been below 2.2 million for two years, although there was a spike in October last year due to multiple long weekends. The occupancy rate for hotels
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
Snow this morning fell on Alishan for the first time in seven years, as a strong continental cold air mass sent temperatures plunging across Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The Alishan weather station, located at an elevation of about 2,200m in central Taiwan, recorded snowfall from 8:55am to 9:15am, when the temperature dropped to about 1°C, the CWA said. With increased moisture and low temperatures in the high-altitude Alishan area, the conditions were favorable for snow, CWA forecaster Tsai Yi-chi (蔡伊其) said. The last time snow fell at the Alishan weather station was on Jan. 10, 2018, while graupel fell there
RSS