China's State Food and Drug Administration will launch a
nationwide crackdown on the production and sale of fake medicines
this month.
The administration will inspect the development, production,
sale and use of drugs, while advertising will be monitored
particularly closely to weed out false and misleading
advertisements, the administration said.
The crackdown follows a campaign on medical treatment
advertising standards launched by the State Administration of
Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Health on Nov. 27.
Advertisements that have not been approved or have been altered
without authorization will incur prosecution for those
responsible.
The authorities will strengthen inspection of media that release
medical advertisements, and the heads of media that release illegal
ads will face penalties.
China's medical products advertising sector was worth 7.6
billion yuan (US$950 million) last year, sixth in the world.
However, in the first three quarters last year, 11,000 irregular
medical advertisements were reported.
(Xinhua News Agency December 2, 2006)