How drug firm at centre of China’s latest vaccine scandal cut corners and forged data
Investigators say Changchun Changsheng Bio-technology used expired materials to make rabies vaccine, carried out experiments at the wrong stage in the process and falsified records
Chinese authorities have released further details of how Changchun Changsheng Bio-technology, the vaccine producer at the centre of the China’s worst public health crisis in years, had made substandard products saying it had used expired materials and conducted experiments on mice at the wrong time.
The company, which state drug authorities found had made substandard vaccines for rabies and DPT (diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus), also forged production data and records concerning the mice, Xinhua news agency quoted an investigation team as saying on Friday.
Central government investigators were ordered to start examining the case at the beginning of the week in an attempt to assuage widespread public anger.
“The company failed to organise production in accordance with prescribed production procedures in order to cut costs and improve the success rate of making rabies vaccines,” the Xinhua report said.
It is an industry norm that one batch of vaccine should be made in a continuous process, but the drug firm was found to have breached this.
The investigation, which focused on rabies vaccine, found that Changsheng had blended active ingredients produced at different times to make the final product.
Some of the batches used had expired, and some were mixed with each other and then re-extracted and purified.