Premier Wen Jiabao has ordered government departments
to launch a thorough investigation into a fake drug incident, which
claimed five lives, and intensify the straightening out of the
pharmaceutical market.
"Those directly responsible for the incident and those who fail
to fulfill their supervisory duties will be punished," Wen said,
who also ordered the tracking down and sealing up of fake drugs
that have reached various regions to ensure the safety of people's
lives.
In response to his instructions, a joint investigation work
group will head to northeast China's Heilongjiang Province today.
The investigation team consists of officials from the
supervision, public security and health ministries and the State
Food and Drug Administration (SFDA).
"The team will work with the provincial government to find out
the cause of the incident as soon as possible, penalize criminals
in accordance with the law and severely punish the relevant
people," said a member of the investigation work group.
He said results of the investigation will be made public in due
course.
A total of 11 people have fallen victim to the fake Armillarisni
A injection made by the Qiqihar No.2 Pharmaceutical Co Ltd in
Heilongjiang. Five of them have died.
The government has shut down the plant and banned the sale of
all medicines made by the plant. Efforts have also been made to
track down and seal up relevant drugs sold to various regions.
The police have detained the suspect Wang Guiping and put other
people involved in the case in custody.
"The pharmaceutical market is in disorder," Wen said.
According to initial government investigations, the company
purchased one ton of "propylene glycol" from drug dealer Wang
Guiping in September 2005 as auxiliary material for producing the
Armillarisni A injection.
The "propylene glycol" delivered by Wang is actually diglycol,
an industrial material that causes acute kidney failure if taken by
humans. The company's quality inspectors failed to discover the
problem. Using diglycol, the company produced the injection, mainly
for treating acute or chronic cholecystitis and chronic and
atrophic gastritis.
Drug authorities in south China's Guangdong Province reported on May 3 that
patients using the injection had developed acute kidney failure
symptoms, which prompted immediate investigations into the
case.
Further probes reveal that the Qiqihar plant had been producing
four other fake drugs before its closure.
SFDA has launched a comprehensive examination of quality control
measures of pharmaceutical companies nationwide from raw material
purchase to material management and delivery of finished
products.
It will also launch a special nationwide campaign soon to
rectify and regulate the pharmaceutical market.
The general public complained a lot about high medicine prices
and ads that exaggerate medicine effects. High medicine prices are
believed to be caused by prevalent commercial bribery in the
pharmaceutical industry.
(Xinhua News Agency May 20, 2006)