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China not a fake-drug factory, says official

By Xie Chuanjiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-27 07:43

China has been unfairly demonized as a center of fake drug production, a senior health official said yesterday.

Bian Zhenjia, deputy commissioner of the State Food and Drug Administration, said reports claiming the country was a major exporter of fake drugs were unfair.

"I don't agree with what the foreign media has been saying. The Chinese government has always paid great attention to cracking down on fake drugs," Bian told a news conference.

He said an article in The Observer saying "health fears grow as Chinese fake drugs flood into Britain" was found to be false after confirmation with food and drug supervision departments in the United Kingdom.

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"We hope we can work together with the rest of the world to crack down on fake drugs, not hype up the problem and launch attacks," he said.

There are 4,708 pharmaceutical companies and manufacturers in China, all operating in a very standard way - especially compared with what was done in the past, he said.

"We have strict requirements for pharmaceutical producers in terms of qualifications."

For instance, pharmaceutical enterprises need to acquire production licenses, and drugs must have batch and registration numbers approved by industry and commerce departments.

According to World Health Organization rules, drug importers should ask their Chinese producers and dealers to provide certificates authorized by national and provincial food and drug administrations.

"The problems lie in the fact that some overseas companies have deals with illegal producers in China so the products involved have problems," Bian said.

There are also other cases where foreign companies import chemicals from China and then use those to make drugs.

Further cases involve foreign enterprises and importers who have purchased drugs from China which they repackage and sell in other places, actions portrayed by some foreign media as "China-made fake drugs being sold in other countries".

"If the international community gives us information on fake drugs, we will investigate," Bian said.