China's drug watchdog vowed to tighten supervision of the
quality of human serum albumin-related medicine after a series of
fake albumin medicine production and sales cases were exposed.
An official with the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA)
said the SFDA is spot-checking the human serum albumin-related
medicine used in local medical organizations by using an instant
test method.
He said the SFDA kicked off a nationwide check-up on the quality
of albumin-related medicine at the beginning of this year and has
spotted a slew of fake albumin medicine production and selling
cases in provinces and autonomous regions such as Shanxi, Hubei,
Hunan, Ningxia, Qinghai, Chongqing and Jilin.
The illegal factories have been shut down. Fake medicines have
been recalled and criminal suspects involved have been transferred
to judicial organs, said the official.
Low blood albumin levels can be caused by malnutrition,
malabsorption, liver disease, nephrotic syndrome or neoplasia.
Human serum albumin-related medicine can help cure or relieve
some diseases such as liver disease and nephrotic syndrome. But
doctors said fake albumin medicine may cause septicaemia.
Driven by high profits, many people produced and sold fake
albumin medicine at the risk of ending up on the wrong side of the
law.
Local police in Chongqing Municipality arrested five fake
albumin medicine peddlers on Feb. 26
The five criminal suspects sold 120 bottles of fake albumin
medicine and earned 20 yuan per bottle. A couple in Chongqing
suffered septicaemia after taking some fake medicine they sold.
(Xinhua News Agency April 4, 2007)