China strictly bans the donation of in-hospital preparations and
overseas biological products and those who donate counterfeit or
shoddy drugs will be severely punished, said an official with the
State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) on Friday.
Yan Jiangying, the SFDA spokeswoman, introduced China's policies
on pharmaceutical donations by domestic and overseas donors at a
routine press conference.
The ineligible products include drugs without official approval
by the SFDA, medical appliances without an official registration
certificate and foreign drugs or medical appliances that aren't
approved by authorities in the country of origin, according to the
official.
Donations of drugs or equipment that had only been approved for
clinical trials were also prohibited, she said.
According to the official, donated drugs or appliances must have
at least six months before their expiration dates.
The only organizations that can legally accept donations are
civil affairs departments and health departments at the provincial
level or higher, as well as the Red Cross Society of China and the
China Charity Federation and their provincial branches.
Measures have been taken by the SFDA recently on the supervision
of drugs, this year in particular, as the 29th Olympic Games will
be held in Beijing in August.
A record 3.7 billion yuan (about 500 million U.S. dollars) in
2006 and 2007 was put into food and drug supervision, more than the
total budget from 1998 to 2005, according to China's pharmaceutical
watchdog.
(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2008)