China Still Holds Technician, Official Of Shanghai Pharma Branch
This article was originally published in PharmAsia News
Executive Summary
A technician and a company official of Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group in China have been detained by Chinese police for possible involvement in last year's tainted-drug scandal, according to a sales official. The head of cancer drug sales for the company's Shanghai Hualian Pharmaceutical subsidiary said a technician at the branch mistakenly added a vincristine sulfate compound to an anti-cancer methotrexate drug, causing further injury to a leukemia patient and reports of other problems with the drug, all in China. The incident sparked a government investigation that led the State FDA to accuse the company of "systematically covering up irregularities in manufacturing." The Hualian sales official said the branch had been recycling leftover materials from methotrexate's production process as part of a cost-cutting effort. (Click here for more - subscription may be required