The panelists with The Director and Deputy Director of IHRUM.
(From left: Ms. Razidah, Dr. Zalina, Prof. Dr. Ramli (Director), Prof. Dr. Zhari, Dr. Saadan, Dr. Lokman, Dr. Roslan (Deputy Director) & Mr. Afiq).
• Bioethics is an important thing in medicine. In other developed countries like the US, patients have the right to know the contents of the medicines prescribed by the doctor to them and they have the right to not taking the medications if they feel are not in accordance with their wishes. Obtaining consent from patients and doctors' opinions and so-called 'concordance' is the best ethics in which both decisions are made.
• As a Muslim, we need to know the origin of the medicines we take.
• The best halal concept for pharmaceuticals is the concept of 'halal build-in' because the manufacture of drugs is highly controlled and highly regulated.
• Among the words of wisdom taught in most pharmaceutical studies are 'Drug is poison and poison is a drug because there is no medicine that has no side effects. If the medicine has no side effects, then it is not a medicine.
• Initially, the high level of alcohol content in pharmaceutical compare to the level of alcohol in beer has been the main issue. However, after several studies have been conducted, finally pharmaceutical industry managed to produce medicine that contains a lower level of alcohol.
• The most important role in halal pharmaceuticals are including the society, NGO, JAKIM and government. Halal pharmaceutical is a thing that can be worked out and achieved.
• The other major issues of halal pharmaceuticals are insulin, magnesium stearate and gel capsule. Insulin in pharmaceutical industries normally derives from three sources:
• Insulin from recombinant DNA
• Insulin from pig
• Human insulin
• As for Human Insulin, it can be not 100% from human, but it is synthetic, in which only insulin-based chains are created. Pig insulin is an insulin that comes from a pig but its structure has been modified for adjustment with human insulin. Recombinant DNA insulin is halal.
