Xun Fubo, deputy director of the Food and Drug Administration of Qiqihar, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, has been sacked for negligence in connection with tainted drugs that caused the death of 11 patients.

Ten other government officials and senior business executives were also punished. They include deputy director of the Heilongjiang provincial food and drug administration, vice-mayor of Qiqihar and director of Food and Drug Administration of Qiqihar. Their punishment ranged from serious warnings, having their negligence noted on their record to removal from leadership posts or public offices, according to a decision of the Ministry of Supervision.

The police have detained 10 people involved in the case, including former general manager of Qiqihar No. 2 Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. for further investigation.

"This is a serious case caused by the use of bogus materials, which quality inspectors failed to stop," said a member of the investigation team, which was made up of officials from the Ministry of Supervision, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Health, and the State Food and Drug Administration.

"Relevant drug, industry and commerce administrations have also seriously neglected their duties in this case," he said.

Drug authorities in south China's Guangdong Province reported on May 3 that patients using the injection had developed acute kidney failure, which prompted immediate investigations into the case.

The investigation revealed that Wang Guiping, a drug dealer in Taixing of Jiangsu Province, forged production documents and sold "propylene glycol" as a raw material for producing Armillarisin A to the Qiqihar drug plant in October 2005. Wang's "propylene glycol" was actually diglycol, an industrial material which causes acute kidney failure if taken by humans. Armillarisin A is used to treat gall-bladder problems.

The buyer and quality inspector at the drug plant failed to discover the problem and allowed the wrong raw material to be used in the production of a batch of Armillarisin A.

After being administered the tainted drug, 11 patients in two hospitals in Guangdong developed acute kidney failure and died.

The drug production license of the Qiqihar plant has been revoked and efforts were launched nationwide to recall the lethal batch of Armillarisin A.

"This case has exposed major problems in China's drug production and distribution system and the loopholes in drug administration," said an official of the investigation team.

"Drugs directly affect people's health and safety. We shall not allow any negligence in this matter," he said.

He asked drug businesses to draw lessons from this case and run their businesses honestly and legally. The government, he said, will adopt strong measures to strengthen and improve drug administration.

"We will enhance our crackdown on the production and sale of fake and shoddy drugs. We will seriously punish government officials who don't perform their duties properly," he said.

Source: Xinhua