Serious adverse drug reactions related to the consumption of adulterated "Black Pills"

The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) would like to alert healthcare professionals on serious adverse drug reactions associated with the consumption of unlabelled "black pills" which are touted for the treatment of a wide range of medical conditions such as arthritic and rheumatic pain and peddled to the elderly. HSA's analysis of samples of these black pills revealed the presence of 2 undeclared western medicinal ingredients, dexamethasone and chlorpheniramine. Healthcare professionals are reminded to enquire about the use of complementary medicines when taking the medication history of their patients and to report any adverse drug reactions suspected to be related to them.

Only abstracts of the Dear Healthcare Professional Letters (DHCPL) are provided on this website. Details of these letters can be found in the MOH Alert System, which is accessible via the Health Professionals Portal (HPP), a one-stop portal for all healthcare professionals in Singapore. Dentists, medical doctors and pharmacists may access HPP at https://hpp.moh.gov.sg ↗ (opens in new tab) and follow the procedures below to access the MOH Alert system.

Step 1: Select your profession under ‘For Healthcare Professionals’.

Step 2: Click on ‘Useful links’.

Step 3: Click on ‘MOH Alert’ and log in via Singpass.

Step 4: Click on ‘Drug Alerts’ or ‘Med Device Alerts’ to view the DHCPLs.