Traditional Chinese medicine body revokes CSR awards to scandal-hit pharma firms

National association apologises for ‘carelessness’ in lauding Hongmao Pharmaceutical and Buchang Pharmaceuticals for corporate social responsibility

Companies have been dogged by controversy over the last year or so

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Hongmao Pharmaceutical markets herbal wines for elderly people. Photo: Handout

Published: 4:47pm, 27 Dec 2019Updated: 10:14pm, 27 Dec 2019

A Chinese health association has revoked awards given to two companies for philanthropy last year after they become embroiled in controversy.

The China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine, an industry group under the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, apologised in an online statement on Thursday for including Hongmao Pharmaceutical and Buchang Pharmaceuticals on its annual list of corporate social responsibility (CSR) star companies over the weekend. Hongmao vice-president Bao Dongqi and Buchang chairman Zhao Tao were also celebrated for their contributions to CSR.

“Due to our carelessness in checking and management, especially due to our lack of awareness of the serious impact on public sentiment from the Hongmao Herbal Liquor incident, the award we issued led the public to question us,” the association said.

“We’ve decided to revoke the award as a way to rectify our mistake.”

Inner Mongolia-based Hongmao, which markets herbal wines for elderly people, was in the firing line in 2018 after police from the autonomous region went to the southern city of Guangzhou and detained doctor Tan Qindong.

In a blog post, Tan had described one of the company’s health tonics as a poison, prompting Hongmao to accuse Tan of inflicting more than 1 million yuan (US$143,000) in damage to its reputation.