Daily reports about the suspect "Xinfu" antibiotic injection
which had allegedly caused six deaths by Tuesday were demanded by
the Ministry of Health on Wednesday.
A notice released by the ministry demanded that all provincial
health departments report cases of adverse reactions to the
clindamycin phosphate glucose injection by 4 PM each day. The
reports should cover the 24-hour period up to noon on the day of
the report, said the notice.
It also requires medical institutions at all levels to report
"Xinfu" related cases to provincial drug monitoring centers and
provincial health departments as quickly as possible.
The ministry banned the use of the drug, produced by the Anhui
Huayuan Worldbest Biology Pharmacy Co., a subsidiary of Shanghai
Worldbest Co. Ltd., on August 3.
Local health departments have been urged to take emergency
control measures and to supervise the implementation of the ban in
every single medical institution. "Officials will be held
accountable if slack supervision of the recall and control work
leads to more adverse reaction cases," says the notice.
The antibiotic has so far been blamed for the deaths of six
people which were reported from the provinces of Hunan, Sichuan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Shaanxi and Hubei.
Severe adverse reactions have occurred after the drug has been
taken which include chest, kidney or stomach pains, vomiting and
anaphylactic shock.
The Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Center of the State Food
and Drug Administration (SFDA) had received 81 reports of severe
reactions to the antibiotic from 10 provinces by Saturday. The SFDA
has sent a team of experts to investigate the link between the
reactions and the antibiotic injection, the administration
said.
The Anhui Huayuan Worldbest Biology Pharmacy Co., based in
Fuyang City of east China's Anhui Province, said it has recalled 760,000
bottles of the injection by Sunday morning while more than 480,000
had been sealed.
The company produced 3.68 million bottles of the injection in
the batch since June and they were sold to 26 provinces, regions
and municipalities.
(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2006)