Chinese authorities have pledged to crack down on the black-market sale of vaccines after a case was made public involving nearly US$90 million worth of illegal vaccines that are suspected of being sold in dozens of provinces in the nation.
The drug regulator in Shandong Province, which is at the heart of the scandal, yesterday said it would work with police forces and the Chinese Ministry of Health and Welfare to inspect vaccine stocks to ascertain where 570 million yuan (US$88 million) worth of vaccines have ended up.
The case, which involves vaccines against meningitis, rabies and other illnesses, underlines the challenge the world’s second-largest drug market faces to regulate its fragmented supply chain, even as Beijing looks to support home-grown firms.
“We will thoroughly investigate all clues in the case and once we get to the bottom of it, then we will severely punish those found to have violated the law,” the Shandong Food and Drug Administration said in a statement posted on its Web site.
Police said a mother and daughter in Shandong had illegally bought vaccines from traders and sold them on to hundreds of re-sellers in the nation, according to a notice from the Shandong Department of Public Security.
The vaccines, which police said were made by licensed producers, were not kept and transported in the required cold-chain conditions, which could mean that patients taking them could suffer severe side effects or even death.
China’s national food and drug regulator also called on other regions that might have bought the illegal vaccines to investigate the issue in a statement posted online on Sunday.
The case also points to frustrations aired by some doctors and patients within China, who say access to some drugs is limited due to red tape surrounding approvals, creating demand for medicines through unapproved channels and the black market.
Pfizer last year shut its vaccine sales business in China after a license for its Prevenar vaccine, the only vaccine it sold in the nation, was not renewed. Prevenar protects against pneumococcal disease, an illness that can lead to pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis.
The mother — a former doctor — and daughter were detained in April last year, but the case was not widely publicized until now.
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