China's State Food and Drug Administration has provided the names of 33 fake medicinal products to help provincial and national authorities investigate counterfeiting activities, Securing Pharma is reporting.
The fakes carry falsified trademarks of Chinese manufacturers, but with some major drugmakers like Pfizer also featured. They include drugs to treat diabetes, respiratory conditions, cardiovascular disease, gout, arthritis and central nervous system disorders.
Tongrentang (TRT), a Beijing pharmacy, found that two kinds of medicines with the names "TRT eye clearance" and "TRT ear gold" were both fake, the Global Times reports. "Some customers once came to our store to buy these two kinds of medicines, but I had never heard of them before, which confused me. Later, I found out they were fake," an anonymous employee tells the paper. "All the medicines sold in our store have to be registered and approved by the SFDA," she explains.
China seems to be taking strides to improve its image regarding quality. Recently, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg met with Chinese officials to discuss cooperation on the making, regulation and tracking of APIs headed to the U.S. Hamburg said Chinese officials were pursuing a "common agenda" to improve manufacturing practices and regulation of supply chains for the food and drug industries, the Canadian Press reports.
The regulator also posted an announcement that has exposed 14 websites releasing false drug information and selling counterfeit or substandard drugs. The SFDA says it has turned the illegal websites over to relevant authorities to investigate and punish according to the law.
- see the SFDA announcement on the website crackdown
- read more from the Global Times
- get more from Securing Pharma
- check out the Canadian Press' report