New | Chinese drugmaker hid data which may show contamination: US Food and Drug Administration

A Chinese manufacturer of antibiotics sold in the US hid quality testing results that may have indicated product contamination, the latest evidence of data manipulation at firms that make ingredients used by large pharmaceutical companies.

The US Food and Drug Administration told Zhejiang Medicine Co. to hire a consultant and investigate “the extent of the inaccuracies in data records and reporting” on quality assurance, according to a warning letter dated August 4 that was released Tuesday.

The drugmaker was ordered to conduct a “risk assessment of the potential effects of the observed failures,” according to the letter.

Zhejiang Medicine has a contract that ends next year to supply Pfizer Inc.’s Hospira unit with the main ingredient for vancomycin, a widely used antibiotic, according to the Chinese company’s annual report.

The FDA letter didn’t say which drugs were affected by flaws in testing records. Pfizer hasn’t seen any issue with the products supplied by Zheijiang Medicine, Rachel Hooper, a Pfizer spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. The New York drugmaker has a programme to ensure all drugs meet its quality standards before they reach the market, Hooper said.

A telephone call outside of business hours to Zhejiang Medicine wasn’t answered.