Zheng Xiaoyu, former director of China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), is scheduled to go on trial in a Beijing court on Wednesday.

Zheng was appointed director of the SFDA when it was created in 1998. He was removed from the post in June 2005.

In 2002, China adopted national standards for approving medicines. All new medicines had to be approved by the SFDA before they could be put on the market.

Zheng promoted a certification system called Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), which was brought into disrepute by a series of health scares and corruption scandals.

He came under investigation by the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in December 2006 and was expelled from the Communist Party in March 2007.

(Xinhua News Agency May 16, 2007)