Jun 3 2008
In the last 10 days six people have died in east China's Jiangxi province after being injected with human immunoglobulin at a hospital in the provincial capital Nanchang.
Human immunoglobulins are proteins produced by the body and are used in the treatment of autoimmune diseases, when the body turns on itself and attacks its own cells.
The six were reportedly injected between May 22nd and 28th and the Chinese authorities have now suspended the sale and use of the human immunoglobulin produced by Jiangxi Yabo Bio-pharmaceutical Co (JYBC) at a hospital affiliated with Nanchang University and the rest of the batch has been recalled.
The victims died after being injected but it is unclear what medical condition the patients were being treated for.
This is just the latest in a run of health scares involving Chinese products, the most recent being the scandal over the blood thinning drug Heparin which was linked to around 100 deaths in the U.S.
It was later revealed the drug been produced in a number of factories in China where it is notoriously difficult to inspect and enforce safety standards.
China's drug watchdog the State Food and Drug Administration and the health ministry have suspended the JYBC drugs while an investigation takes place.
Last year a top official in China's food and drug administration was executed for accepting millions in bribes in exchange for granting approvals for hundreds of medicines, some of which were dangerous.
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