If you're having troubling finding your favourite vitamin C supplement, Celin or Limcee (tablets and chewables), at the chemist, you can blame the government for it. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has suddenly decided to bring these two vitamin C drugs under the controlled category, which means their price will now be decided by the government. These drugs were earlier a D-category listing (where pharma companies could decide the price). This has now resulted in pharma companies going slow on production, badly impacting consumers.

Celin and Limcee, recommended by physicians, orthopaedicians and ophthalmologists, are not only cheap, but do not have any substitute in that price range. The alternative branded local/imported brands for Vitamin C are priced 100 times more. For instance, where a strip of 15x500mg Celin pills cost R17.50, a pack of 20x1,000 mg imported or local brand of Vitamin C pills cost R352. While Celin is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, Limcee is the product of Abbott Pharma.