SHANGHAI – A vaccine scandal in China, which has prompted angry reactions from citizens fed up with safety scares, is sending ripples across the…
SHANGHAI – A vaccine scandal in China, which has prompted angry reactions from citizens fed up with safety scares, is sending ripples across the local drug market and threatening Chinese ambitions to play a larger role in the global pharmaceutical arena. Chinese police have launched an investigation into Changsheng Biotechnology Co, its chairwoman and four senior executives over suspected criminal behavior, the official Xinhua news agency said late on Monday. Changsheng has been found to have falsified production documents related to a rabies vaccine that is given routinely to Chinese babies as young as three months, underscoring the challenge the world's second-biggest drug market faces cleaning up its image as it aims to promote its vaccines globally. According to the China Food and Drug Administration, Changsheng fabricated production records as well as product inspection records, and arbitrarily changed process parameters and equipment, in "serious violations" of the law. Shares in Chinese vaccine makers and biotech firms fell across the board on Monday after the country's Premier Li Keqiang had slammed the vaccine maker for having crossed a moral red line and called for swift action. While there have been no known reports of people being harmed by the vaccine, the regulator ordered Changsheng to halt production and recall the product after the scandal emerged earlier this month. The case has gone viral in China, where sensitivity over food and drug safety is extremely high after a slew of scandals over the last decade. It was among the most hotly discussed topics on microblogging website Sina Weibo on Monday. A hashtag related to the case had been read more than 600 million times by mid-afternoon on Monday, despite reports that some posts were being taken down by censors. "All my friends are freaking out with this vaccine case, everyone is scared. It really reflects big loopholes and issues with China's food and drug safety regulation," wrote one Weibo user under the handle 1988 Cheng Hongyu. "Yesterday it was milk powder, today vaccines.
