More than 1,300 manufacturers were forced to halt production for restructuring to meet the national quality standard, and more than 8,600 illegal drug distributors were permanently closed down.

Zheng Xiaoyu, director of the State Drug Administration, disclosed the statistics during a group discussion at the ongoing session of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC).

The government has pledged to reinforce its zero tolerance campaign on unqualified or illegal medicine manufacturers, and will "be very cautious over the establishment of new plants" in a bid to regulate the market.

His release echoes the views of many legislators who have called on government officials at all levels to be tougher on the counterfeit medicine market.

They explain that fake drugs pose potentially serious risks to people's health.

"The State Council has paid great attention to the issue of counterfeit drugs in the market. We have reformed our supervision system to fortify control over the market since last year," Zheng said.

Zheng said the administration will shut down about half of existing healthcare product manufacturers this year, only 1,300 will be left.

"These manufacturers, which have sneaked into the market due to slack government control, fail to meet the national quality standard. They must be closed to prevent rampant counterfeits and unqualified products from going on sale to the public," said Zheng.

Song Yadong, an NPC deputy from Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, urged the government to enforce severe punishment on counterfeit drug makers as a deterrent.

"We suffer a shortage of legal instruments to penalize such illegalities, and our punishment is too weak to be effective," said Song, who is also the deputy director of the Drug Administration of Suihua City of the province.

A general manager of a famous pharmaceutical joint-venture told China Daily that bogus medicines not only pose harm to public health, but also affect the dynamic development of the pharmaceutical industry.

"We have spent several million yuan a year to trace and help local government crack down on the counterfeit. The direct losses we suffer from the counterfeit have reached up to 10 million yuan a year (US$1.2 million), or 1 per cent of our annual revenue," said the manager who declined to give his name or that of his company.

He said the government must be tough in the crackdown, especially because China has joined the World Trade Organization (WTO).

"The entry opens the overseas market for us. If the current situation continues, the reputation of Chinese medicine will be ruined," he said.

The manager said the work is even harder when some of the counterfeit makers are protected by local authorities.

Local governments relied on these makers to bring in taxes and job opportunities.

Zheng admitted the fight against fakes drug would be a long and difficult journey.

"Our supervision network has not been completed, covering only 84 per cent of the cities, and 73 percent of towns and counties," said Zheng.

"Also we are suffering from insufficient funds to launch large-scale spot inspections of medicine factories. We need help from local governments," Zheng added.

Song urged governments at all levels to put the fight against counterfeiting high on the agenda.

"It is not a war that the drug watchdog alone could win," said Song.

(China Daily March 12, 2002)