As accidents involving disqualified drugs made "drug safety" one of last year's buzzwords, Chinese political advisors are brainstorming on the issue.

Driven by profit, many pharmaceutical companies went all out to lower the cost of drugs disregarding their quality, said Chi Baorong, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People' s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and professor with the medical department of northeast China's Jilin University.

One example was the "Xinfu" drug by Anhui Huayuan Worldbest Biology Pharmacy Co. that caused six deaths in last August.

"The medicine was sold at 38 yuan per bottle, but its cost was only 2.7 yuan, even cheaper than a bottle of beverage," she said.

To reduce the cost, many producers even sacrificed the test procedure of drugs before throwing them into the market, noted Chi.

She learned that the Qiqihar No. 2 Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. laid off 60 percent of its staff to hire temporary workers. As a result, none of the 11 checkers were professional enough to intercept the fake injection that killed 11 last May.

In fact, after the notorious drug accidents, the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) is about to encourage inspectors be stationed in factories. However, CPPCC National Committee member Wang Guozhi with the National Institute For the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products, doubted the feasibility of this measure.

"Are there enough inspectors for all the factories? Are they familiar with all kinds of drugs? And if they work in the factories, how could we avoid corruption?" Wang questioned.

Long Zhixian, also a CPPCC member and former principal of the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, especially addressed the problem of corruption. "Assessment of a new medicine is conducted solely by the SFDA, the power of which is too centralized," he said.

"The fate of the medicine lies only on the lips of several officials, which leads to corruption," Long said.

In 2006 China approved about 6,500 new medicines, according to Ba Denian, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE). The United States gives nod to about 100 medicines a year.

Zheng Xiaoyu, former director of the SFDA, who has been expelled from the Communist Party and given administrative penalty, was found taking advantage of the administration's drug approval power to obtain bribes and seek illegal profits for some drug companies, disregarding his duty to supervise the drug market.

While the political advisors are urging the government to strengthen inspection over drug companies and crack down on corruption, some other advisors saw policy loopholes.

"The quality requirement of some medicines is so high that they should be produced by only a small number of big pharmaceutical companies," said Li Lianda, also a researcher with the CAE. Li cited the example of Cordate Houttuynia, noting more than 190 companies hold the license of producing the herbal medicine.

The advisors also call for severer punishment to illegal drug producers.

"A fine of thousands of yuan is not enough -- we should revoke the license of questionable manufacturers," said Shao Yiming, a medical expert with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Chi Baorong echoed in her proposal. "In the west those who produce fake drugs shall be jailed for life, and the measure is worth borrowing."

(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2007)