Dodgy Chinese antibiotic kills at least 7

Aug 10 2006

According to the Ministry of Health in China at least 7 deaths have now been linked to the injectable antibiotic clindamycin phosphate glucose.

The ministry has apparently demanded that all provincial health departments report cases of adverse reactions to the antibiotic an a daily basis.

The government banned the use of the drug last week, following the death of a 6-year-old girl and scores of others suffering adverse reactions.

The deaths were in the provinces of Hunan, Sichuan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Shaanxi and Hubei.

According to official sources the latest victims were both elderly.

The drug company says it has recalled 760,000 bottles of the drug.

The State Food and Drug Administration has to date received 81 reports of severe reactions throughout the country, according to the media.

Adverse effects after being injected with the drug are said to include chest pains, vomiting and diarrhoea.

China has denied claims by the media of a cover-up over reports of adverse reactions linked to the antibiotic treatment.

Although the first notice of an adverse reaction to the drug was on July 27, an emergency report banning the drug was not released until August 3 and ten days after the first adverse reaction emerged, a link between the drug and patients' complications had not been confirmed.

This latest health scare is just one of many over China's use of fake and poor-quality products.

Such products have killed dozens of people in China in recent years and has invoked widespread public anger about food and drug safety.

Much of the Chinese media has blamed the frequent scandals on businesses obsessed with making profits and on sloppy official supervision.

Local media exposed a bogus drug scandal earlier this year when 11 people in the southern province of Guangdong died after they received injections of fake Armillarisni-A made by a Heilongjiang company, whose executives were detained and its license withdrawn.

The drug currently in question is produced by the Anhui Huayuan Worldbest Biology Pharmacy Co, a subsidiary of Shanghai Worldbest Co Ltd.