Qiu Zuyi, the former boss of the Chinese pharmaceutical company
whose substandard antibiotic injection products allegedly killed
more than 10 people, committed suicide on Nov. 1, according to a
report in Friday's China Securities Journal.
Qiu, former general manager of the Huayuan Worldbest Biology
Pharmacy Co. in east China's Anhui Province, was found dead in his
office last Wednesday evening, the report said.
Company staff refused to discuss the suicide, but an anonymous
municipal official in Fuyang, capital of Anhui where the company is
based, confirmed the development on Thursday, according to the
newspaper.
Qiu has been under heavy pressure since the case was
exposed.
The first report on the serious side effects of the
clindamycinphosphate glucose injection, known as Xinfu, came from
Qinghai Province in northwest China in late
July. More reports then reached the State Food and Drug
Administration (SFDA) from Guangxi, Zhejiang, Shandong and other provinces.
The SFDA banned the use of the product and ordered its recall in
August after a six-year-old girl died in Harbin, capital of
northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, after an injection.
SFDA investigations discovered that the company had failed to
observe approved production standards by reducing the sterilization
temperature and shortening sterilization time.
On Oct. 16, the SFDA revoked Huayuan's license for injections
and Qiu was removed from his position.
Despite the death of over 10 patients nationwide, Qiu was not
charged. He continued to show up at the company each day while his
fate was being decided.
Following the incident, the SFDA carried out 35 unannounced
inspections of drug manufacturers. As a result, fifteen companies
have had their Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Certificates
revoked and another 13 were ordered to rectify production
defects.
(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2006)