China launches nationwide vaccine sector inspection after scandal

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BEIJING, July 26, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – China’s drug regulator said it has
launched a nationwide inspection of vaccine production as authorities step up
the response to a fraud case that has re-ignited public fears over the safety
of the country’s medicines.

The State Drug Administration said in an announcement issued late
Wednesday that it had dispatched inspection teams “to thoroughly investigate
the whole process and entire chain of vaccine production of all vaccine
producers”.

China’s latest product-safety scare emerged more than a week ago with news
that major pharmaceutical manufacturer Changchun Changsheng Biotechnology had
fabricated records and was ordered to cease production of rabies vaccines.

The case leapt to the top of the national agenda last weekend as parents
and other consumers vented their anger and frustration at manufacturers and
the regulators tasked with supervising them.

Police in the northeastern city of Changchun announced on Tuesday that 15
people, including the company’s chairwoman, had been arrested on “suspicion
of criminal offences”.

The government has said the problematic rabies vaccine had not left
Changsheng’s factory, but the company admitted it had shipped a separate sub-
standard vaccine for diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus.

The depth of public outrage revealed on social media appeared to have
caught authorities off-guard, and national leaders have scrambled in recent
days to vow a thorough safety clean-up of the pharmaceutical sector.

In a sign of the high-level unease, President Xi Jinping — on a trip to
Africa — weighed in earlier this week by calling the vaccine company’s
actions “vile in nature and shocking”, according to state media.

China is regularly hit by scandals involving sub-par or toxic food, drugs
and other products, despite repeated promises by the ruling Communist Party
to address the problem.