Ten people are set to file a landmark joint lawsuit against the
Second Pharmaceutical Company in Qiqihar, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, for producing a fake
drug called Armillarisin. They intend to sue the company for a
record 10 million-plus yuan in compensation for producing a drug
that inflicted serious liver damage and claimed eleven lives.
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Guangzhou Daily reports the lawsuit will be the first
lawsuit a group of fake drug victims has filed against a
pharmaceutical company. The action comes after a series of fake
drug scandals in China.
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The Second Pharmaceutical Company manufactured Armillarisin in
conjunction with a chemicals plant in Taixing in east China's Jiangsu Province. The toxic brew was marketed
as an injection designed to cure gall bladder disease and other
digestive disorders, but it caused kidney failure and killed eleven
people. The survivors were forced to spend large sums of money on
kidney transplants and related treatments.
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The newspaper reports the police investigation is ongoing and the
main suspect has been placed in custody. He has confessed the
company and chemical plant replaced one of the ingredients required
in the injection, propanediol, with 1.2 tons of industrial-grade
diglycol.
The attorney for the victims, who are all from Guangzhou, says
he will help other attorneys launch bigger lawsuits on behalf of
other fake drug victims after the current appeal.
Before the Armillarisin case, a scandal erupted over the lack of
quality control in Chinese pharmaceuticals after a fake antibiotic
called "Xinfu" claimed at least ten lives in 2006.
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The Guangzhou Daily quotes another attorney who says
repeated fake drug scandals have exposed loopholes in the way China
monitors and regulates the manufacture and sale of drugs. He says
more stringent monitoring and enforcement mechanisms must be
established across the country. Tougher compensation laws should
apply to companies caught producing fake drugs.
(CRI March 21, 2007)