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HEALTH-CHINA-MEDICINE-VACCINE
Chinese president calls latest pharma scare “vile”
SHANGHAI, July 23, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday
described a vaccine safety scandal as “vile” and “shocking” as police opened
a criminal investigation into the firm responsible and its management.
Xi, on a trip to Africa, echoed the calls from Premier Li Keqiang for a
thorough investigation and stern action over the latest safety scare to hit
the pharmaceutical industry.
“Changchun Changsheng Biotechnology’s illegal production of vaccines is
vile in nature and shocking,” Xi said, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
The mounting scandal stemming from a sub-standard rabies vaccine has
raised questions about the safety of China’s entire vaccine industry and sent
drug company shares tumbling on Monday.
The China Food and Drug Administration announced late Sunday that it had
ordered all production stopped at Changchun Changsheng, a subsidiary of one
of the country’s largest vaccine makers.
Police in the northeastern city of Changchun, where the company is based,
said on social media they had opened a criminal investigation into illegal
production of the rabies vaccine and taken the company chairwoman and four
subordinates in for investigation.
Premier Li said the latest case had crossed a “line of human ethics” and
vowed harsh consequences for any infractions or lax supervision.
“(We) must resolutely strike with heavy blows all law-breaking criminal
behaviour, severely punish the criminals according to the law, and hold
accountable those who were negligent in supervision,” Li said in a website
statement late Sunday.
Regulators said last week they had halted production of the rabies vaccine
after finding fabricated records and other problems during an inspection.
The China Food and Drug Administration said last week the problematic
rabies vaccine had not left Changsheng’s factory, but the company admitted it
had shipped a separate sub-standard vaccine.
– Failed standards –
That vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis was found by regulators
to fail quality standards — but the company revealed that it had sold
250,000 doses to Shandong province last year.
Authorities in Hebei announced separately on Monday that nearly 150,000
people in the northern province received a sub-standard diphtheria, tetanus
and pertussis vaccine made by another firm, Wuhan Institute of Biological
Products.
Hebei said it has launched steps to administer new vaccines to those
affected.
China is hit regularly by quality-control scandals, fuelling fear over the
safety of food and medicines and anger at regulatory lapses.
Censors and regulators struggled to stay abreast of the public’s response
to the latest scandal, deleting posts on WeChat over the weekend which
alleged corruption in the industry. State media battled to take control of
the narrative.
Stocks of major Chinese vaccine producers plunged Monday.
In Shenzhen, Walvax Biotechnology dropped by its 10 percent daily
allowable limit, as did vaccine suppliers Shenzhen Kangtai Biological
Products and Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products.
After a brief trading halt, shares of Changchun Changsheng’s parent
company also fell by the 10 percent limit.
Concern has grown that problematic vaccines have already been administered
to children.
The state-run Global Times newspaper questioned in an editorial Monday how
suspect vaccines were still being produced following the harsh lessons of the
past.
“People do not understand why the country had not prevented a sub-standard
vaccine from being produced in the first place,” it said, suggesting it may
be due to “lax supervision and light punishment”.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1826 hrs