Six people have died in the past 10 days after using human immunoglobulin, proteins that behave like antibodies, in east China's Jiangxi Province, local authorities said on Sunday.
The victims died after being injected with the immunolobulin from May 22 to 28 at the No. 2 Hospital Affiliated with Nanchang University, according to the provincial food and drug administration.
All the deadly drugs were produced by Jiangxi Yabo Bio-pharmaceutical Co., (JYBC) and had the same batch number, No. 20070514, it said.
The watchdog said it received the death reports on May 28, but gave no details about the victims and the dates of their deaths.
The State Food and Drug Administration and the Health Ministry ordered a suspension of the sales and use of the human immoglobulin made by JYBC on May 29 and urged the manufacturer to recall the batch No. 20070514.
Local authorities sealed all the human immunoglobulin of JYBC and took samples for testing in the National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products.
No other adverse drug reactions related to the same batch of drugs were reported in Jiangxi and the national monitoring centers.
An investigation into the case is underway.
(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2008)