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Tainted antibiotic claims another life

A 37-year-old man died of kidney failure after being treated with an antibiotic tainted with an antifreeze ingredient, the 14th fatality in China linked to the drug since 2006, state media and a hospital said yesterday.

The man, surnamed Ren, died on Wednesday at the No. 3 Zhongshan Hospital in Guangzhou, the hospital's Communist Party administration office said.

Ren was one of 65 patients at the hospital who received injections of the antibiotic, Armillarisni A, in April 2006, Xinhua news agency said.

By the end of last year, 13 patients had died from kidney failure, Xinhua said.

The antibiotic-linked deaths have drawn wide media attention and national outrage over the continued lack of enforcement of safety standards in China's food and drug manufacturing sectors. The country's pharmaceutical industry is highly lucrative, but spottily regulated, enticing some to try to cash in by substituting fake or substandard ingredients.

Following the 2006 deaths at the hospital, investigators found an unlicensed vendor had passed off a thickening agent used in antifreeze, diethylene glycol (DEG) -- also known as diglycol -- as a substitute for an ingredient in the antibiotic used to treat liver and gallbladder diseases.

Quality inspectors at the drug manufacturer, Qiqihar No. 2 Pharmaceutical Co, had failed to discover the problem. The government shut down the drug company in 2006 and ordered its products removed from shelves.
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