Dear Editor,

We write to express our concern regarding the publication of an article in the Jamaica Observer dated Sunday, August 14, 2022 headlined ‘Dangerous drink’.

While we assume that the intent of the story was to safeguard the public interest, we believe that the way in which the information was presented is potentially harmful to the general public and damaging to our regionally established DPH brand.

Firstly, as experienced communicators, it should not have escaped your attention that by publishing what amounts to recipes, shared by users, that misuse/abuse pharmaceutical products, you may have inadvertently compounded the problem. Despite the rise of social media, the public still looks to established media houses such as the Observer for responsible reporting and reliable information rather than sensational journalism.

Secondly, we wish to point out that DPH is a registered trademark of Federated Pharmaceutical, a division of our company Kirk-FP Limited, and it is the brand used for our locally manufactured formulation of diphenhydramine. We are concerned that the article repeatedly referenced DPH, specifically, rather than using the generic name diphenhydramine, which has multiple formulations available locally under various brand names.

With a little more research your writer could have made this determination/observation and would have been able to present a more balanced, informative article.

As responsible members of the pharmaceutical community, the Cari-Med Group is committed to educating the public about the dangers of misuse of any medication. Additionally, we expect a similar approach by one of the nation’s major news outlets to reporting on these and other issues with implications for public health and safety.

We look forward to your response and prompt remediation.

Lorraine Jones​

Corporate communications manager

Cari-Med Limited

lorrainej@carimed.com