Another person died Tuesday morning from injecting a fake drug made by a
Chinese pharmaceutical company, pushing the total death toll to five, said a
Xinhua News Agency.
Drugs made by the Qiqihar No 2 Pharmaceutical Company have been removed from
hospitals, and the company has been forced to suspend operations.
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A patient receives
treatment in a local hospital in Guangzhou, capital city of south's China
Guangdong province May 15, 2006. The patient shows symptoms of acute renal
failure and has been found to have taken a fake injection produced by
a chemical works in Qiqihar, northeast China's Heilongjiang
Provinc. The concerfeit medicine have led to four deaths.
[Xinhua]
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The State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) on last weeky issued an
emergency announcement banning the sale and use of medicines produced by the
drug maker, which is based in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.
The ban came after 13 patients had developed the symptoms of acute
kidney failure at the No 3 Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou,
after using the company's Armillarisini A injection earlier this month.
Armillarisini A can be used to treat gallstones and gastritis.
Preliminary investigation showed that the drug was bogus on account of
serious flaws in the manufacturing process, the SFDA said.
A nationwide campaign to remove all medicines produced by the company has
been carried out at the order of the SFDA.
Nearly 1.8 million sets were sealed in Heilongjiang Province alone, said the
local food and drug administration.
Cao Yongwen, head of the Qiqihar Food and Drug Administration, said that
propylene glycol, a chemical needed to produce the drug, was to blame.
The chemical, which was purchased from Taixing Chemical Plant in East China's
Jiangsu Province, was found to be bogus.
Local food and drug administration officials in Jiangsu have sealed the
chemical in the plant for further investigation. An employee named Wang Guiping
was detained by local public security officials on suspicion of selling the
chemical, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Li Yunlong, director of the Heilongjiang Food and Drug Administration, said
those who are responsible for manufacturing the drug were under arrest, and
severe punishments would be dished out if they are found to be guilty.
