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 The drug regulator in Shandong, the province at the heart of the
scandal, said on Monday it would work with police forces and the
health ministry to inspect vaccine stocks to ascertain where 570
million yuan ($88 million) worth of vaccines had 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 website.
Local police said a mother and daughter in Shandong had illegally
bought vaccines from traders and sold them on to hundreds of
re-sellers around the country, according to a notice from the
Shandong Public Security Department.
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 which 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 around approvals, creating demand for medicines through
unapproved channels and the black market.
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Pfizer Inc shut its vaccine sales business in China last year after
a license for its Prevenar vaccine, the only vaccine it sold in the
country, 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 last
April, but the case was not widely publicized until now.
(Reporting by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Richard Pullin)
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