Firm fined 19m yuan over deaths
The pharmaceuticals producer at the centre of a fake drug scandal that led to the death of 10 people has been fined 19 million yuan, the Heilongjiang Daily reported yesterday.
The Qiqihar No2 Pharmaceutical Company in Heilongjiang also had its production licence revoked by the local Food and Drug Administration, the report said. It had previously suspended production.
Premier Wen Jiabao has ordered a high-powered inquiry into the scandal, which first surfaced in Guangdong in early May when patients fell sick after injections of armillarisin A - a medicine used for liver, gall bladder and gastric ailments - made by the firm.
A team led by the Ministry of Supervision and supported by the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Health, and the State Food and Drug Administration found the company bought a tonne of 'propylene glycol' from Wang Guiping , who posed as a staff member of a drug supplier. It turned out Wang had substituted the ingredient with 'diglycol', an industrial material that causes acute kidney failure.
The investigation team condemned Qiqihar No2 Pharmaceutical staff for allowing the mistake to be made.
Fourteen people, including Niu Zhongren , a procurement officer at the company, have been arrested during the investigation.
