Government and Policy

Shake-up at drug watchdog amid vaccine scandals

By Zuo Likun (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-04-02 13:33

Wei Liang, a biological researcher with the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), was arrested on bribery charges recently, at a time when the national drug watchdog, already teetering amid an escalating vaccine scandal, is undergoing a series of department reshuffles.

Friday's 21st Century Business Herald quoted a Beijing procurator official in the know of Wei's case confirming that Wei was formally arrested on charges of taking bribes of "less than 1 million yuan ($146,500)."

Wei was last seen on a training trip to Germany and was said to be taken away by discipline officers upon arrival at Beijing airport last December. The drug registration office Wei was in charge of had great influence on the pharmaceutical industry. No medicine would go to the market without the green light from Wei's department.

Meanwhile, SFDA has undergone at least 16 personnel changes since last November, including in Wei's department. At least three SFDA officials have been arrested since then, said an insider. The claim couldn't be independently verified because the agency has asked its officials to decline media interviews.

The sweeping reshuffle at SFDA comes at a time when the country is shocked by a series of vaccine scandals.

A pharmaceutical company in East China's Jiangsu province admitted on Thursday that their substandard rabies vaccines might expose unwitting patients to the hazards of bogus immunizations. Meanwhile, specialists in neurology and immunization were called in earlier this week to North China's Shanxi province to look into a separate vaccine problem blamed in the deaths and injuries of nearly 100 children.