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Four held in fake diabetes drug case

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-19 07:43

Police in Shandong province seized four people accused of providing packaging for a fake diabetes drug that killed two patients and hospitalized nine others, local officials said yesterday.

The drug, sold under the brand "Tang Zhi Ning Jiao Nang", was found to contain six times the normal dose of glibenclamide, a chemical used to help lower blood sugar. Taking a dosage this size is potentially fatal. Two patients in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region died after taking the drug in January.

The suspects were all executives with Tai'an Zhongxin Lingzhi Technology and Development Co Ltd. based in Tai'an city, said a local public security bureau spokesman who requested anonymity.

The four included Wang Junqing, 57, board chairman, and his daughter Wang Liping, 32, who is in charge of the company's financial management. Also detained were Zhang Anjie, 33, Wang Liping's husband and the general manager, and Ma Yuanjie, 37, the production manager.

The spokesman said the company packaged 40,000 bottles of the drug since last September and was paid 38,000 yuan ($5,500) by Fu Qichang, the chief suspect in the case. He was seized by Shandong police on Feb 8.

"Fu delivered the drugs to the company for the packaging service and sent them elsewhere," the spokesman said. He told Xinhua he had no idea where the fake drugs were produced.

Tai'an police searched drugstores throughout the city but didn't find the fake diabetes medicine.

On Feb 5, Xinjiang authorities said 14,400 bottles of the fake drug entered the region, of which 10,663 were recovered, including 3,539 taken from customers.

Xinhua

(China Daily 02/19/2009 page4)