Two drug firms' ads banned
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-05-26 14:38

Two drug companies have been banned from advertising their products on all local radio channels for three months as punishment for circulating illegal ads, the city's advertisement watchdog said yesterday.

Ads of the two companies - Jilin Province Huinan Pharmaceutical Co and Shanghai Tianyi Health Care Tonics Co - are misleading and have false content, according to the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau.

The two are among 14 companies that have published illegal ads more than 30 times this year. The other 12 have been warned to rectify their practice.

The two are the first to receive such a severe penalty in the bureau's crackdown on fraudulent ads. It usually only issues fines or warnings.

In the fourth quarter last year, the bureau monitored 75,065 pieces of ads in local media, of which 2,009 were illegal.

More than half of the illegal ads were for medical service, and the rest were mostly for health care tonics and medicines.

To clean up the local tonic market, the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration revealed yesterday that it has started a citywide sweep on substandard products and exaggerated ads.

"We received the most complaints about tonics that promote blood sugar control and weight control, and these two will also be our key targets in the sweep," Sheng Guoyuan, SFDA's inspection department chief, said.