Health Canada is advising the public of the presence of counterfeit COVID-19 rapid antigen test kits in Ontario.
The federal agency says these fraudulent kits were sold online in boxes of 25 by a distributor called Healthful Plus, without the license required to import.
Health Canada says the packaging looks like genuine products from BTNX Inc. and uses the identifier “COV-19C25,” but has several important differences.
The fraudulent boxes are labeled as being manufactured by Health Advance Inc. rather than BTNX Inc. Also, Health Advance is advertised as an “Official Canadian Distributor” and the kits are listed as “Approved by Health Canada”.
Health Canada says it has not evaluated the safety and effectiveness of counterfeit kits.
The agency says anyone who suspects they have a counterfeit kit should refrain from using it and instead report it, either to the government or BTNX.
Health Canada says the issue appears to be limited to one manufacturer, Health Advance, and one distributor, Healthful Plus. It says Health Advance appears to no longer manufacture medical devices and the Healthful Plus website has been taken offline.
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