At the weekend an investigation into the manufacture of a drug produced by a Chinese pharmaceutical company, which is believed to have caused severe kidney failure in 13 patients, got underway. 

The firm involved, Qiqihar No 2 Pharmaceutical Company, has been forced to suspend operations. Drugs have been removed from hospitals and a number of those thought to be involved have been arrested.

The State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) on last Thursday issued an emergency announcement banning the sale and use of medicines produced by the drug maker which is based in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

The ban came about when 13 patients showed symptoms of acute kidney failure at the No. 3 Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou after they'd been given the company's Armillarisini A injections earlier this month. The drug can be used to treat gallstones and gastritis.

Preliminary investigations show the drug was bogus because of serious flaws in the manufacturing process, the SFDA said. They ordered a nationwide withdrawal of all medicines produced by the company. 

Nearly 1.8 million doses of the drug were manufactured in Heilongjiang Province alone, said the local food and drug administration.

Qiqihar No 2 Pharmaceutical Company is state-owned with more than 300 registered workers but their operations have now been suspended. A security guard at the factory said the whole company had been "on holiday for several days".

Cao Yongwen, head of the Qiqihar Food and Drug Administration, said propylene glycol, a chemical used to produce the drug was the cause of the problem. It was bought from Taixing Chemical Plant in east China's Jiangsu Province but was found to be bogus.

Local food and drug administration officials in Jiangsu have sealed supplies of the chemical in the plant for further investigation. An employee named Wang Guiping was detained by local public security officials on suspicion of selling the chemical, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Li Yunlong, director of the Heilongjiang Food and Drug Administration, said those who were responsible for manufacturing the drug were under arrest and severe punishments could follow if they were found guilty of producing the fake drug.  

(China Daily May 15, 2006)