News - Page 10

Ambassador for AYA

AYA, the leading Irish vitamin and supplement brand for all the family, has unveiled Anna Daly as its new Brand Ambassador for 2022.

Anna Daly, Brand Ambassador, AYA

As an experienced broadcaster, businesswoman, and mum of three, Anna enjoys a busy lifestyle and relies on her AYA vitamins and supplements to help her to stay well, support her immunity, and give her the energy she needs to live life to the full. And she ensures her family take AYA supplements regularly too, meeting their nutritional requirements every day.

Anna’s Brand Ambassador work with AYA will see her supporting some exciting new product launches, creating social media content to promote the brand, and attending events throughout the year.

Anna Daly, AYA Brand Ambassador, comments, “Working with Irish brand, AYA, is a partnership that feels natural. I’m excited to become the face of a brand that Irish people rely on for trusted health supplements and key vitamins to boost our immune systems, in a time where we need that health boost more than ever.”

Aine Devlin, AYA’s Marketing Manager, states, “We’re thrilled to be working with Anna Daly this year as the AYA brand continues to grow from strength to strength.

With her busy lifestyle as a mum, broadcaster and entrepreneur Anna epitomises the AYA customer – someone who wants themselves and their family to feel their best every day.”

To celebrate the announcement AYA has teamed up with Anna to give her social media followers the chance to win a year’s supply of AYA supplements worth ¤750 and a Fota Island Resort voucher worth ¤250 for one lucky winner and a friend each. To enter, head over to Anna’s Instagram and follow the instructions on her AYA post.

Specially developed by Irish company Uniphar and exclusive to Irish Pharmacy, the AYA range of 34 products for adults, children and babies is widely available in pharmacies nationwide including @allcarepharmacyirl, @lifepharmacyirl, @hickeyspharma, @mccauleypharmacy, @cara_pharmacy, @mulliganspharmacy and @chtralee, where staff are trained to provide advice on appropriate products.

Over 1.6m Units of Illegal Medicines Detained

The Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) has stated that the volume of detained illegal medicines in 2021 remained at a near record high, with its enforcement section detaining 1,604,589 million dosage units of falsified and other illegal products in 2021.

Announcing its annual detention figures, the HPRA once again stressed the health dangers associated with sourcing prescription medicines online and advised the general public to only seek medicines from authorised sources. In the 12 months of 2021, the most significant categories of illegal products detained included sedatives (46%), anabolic steroids (13%), analgesics (10%) and erectile dysfunction medicines (6%). The breakdown is:

• Sedative medicines – 741,492 units detained (583,805 units detained in 2020)

• Anabolic steroids – 204,843 units detained (101,683 units detained in 2020)

• Analgesic medicines – 161,670 units detained (145,921 units detained in 2020)

• Erectile dysfunction – 103,816 units were detained (484,846 in 2020 which included one detention of over 370,000 tablets)

• 56,385 units of Covid-19 medicines were detained, including 28,302 units of Ivermectin

• 461 websites, e-commerce listings and/or social media pages amended or shutdown

• 5 prosecution cases initiated, and seven voluntary formal cautions issued

According to Grainne Power, Director of Compliance with the HPRA, the high number of illicit medicines detected in 2021 is very concerning and when combined with the 2020 figures means that over 3.2 million units were detained over a two-year period.

“Every single one of the tablets, capsules and vials intercepted during 2021 was important. Our detentions disrupt the illicit market and we continue with our ongoing work in this area to disrupt the flow of counterfeit and falsified medicines into Ireland. We know that those who seek to profit from illegal medicines have little regard for the health of the end users they are supplying. Our goal, with a focus on impacting both supply and demand, is to protect the public from the risks associated with products for which there are no guarantees as to what they contain or under what conditions they have been manufactured.”

The HPRA works in close cooperation with colleagues from An Garda Síochána and Revenue’s Customs Service with whom there is significant inter-agency collaboration to combat the illegal supply of health products into and within Ireland. It also co-operates and shares intelligence with other regulatory and law enforcement agencies worldwide to prevent the illegal manufacture, importation and distribution of medicines, medical devices, and cosmetics.

The HPRA is responsible for prosecuting cases where it considers that there is a significant risk to public health or where there are persistent noncompliances. Five prosecution cases were initiated in 2021. Three prosecutions related to the unauthorised supply of anabolic steroids, one related to the unauthorised supply of sildenafil citrate and one related to the unauthorised supply of medicinal products from a market stall.