China’s drug watchdog has told the country’s second-biggest maker of rabies vaccines to stop production after a snap inspection uncovered evidence of forged data, dealing yet another blow to the scandal-plagued pharmaceutical industry.
The State Drug Administration said inspectors found serious violations of a protocol for drug production involving the Vero-cell rabies vaccine at Changchun Changsheng Bio-technology, in Changchun, in the northern province of Jilin.
In a statement on Sunday, the administration said it ordered its Jilin branch to revoke the company’s Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) for medical products certificate, an essential licence for production.
The statement said the batch involved in the inspection had not been put on the market, and inspectors from the Jilin drug regulator and the administration were stationed at the company for further investigation.
The administration did not give details of the forged data.
Rabies is a deadly virus spread to people from the saliva of infected animals and is usually transmitted through a bite. It can also cause pain, headaches, fever, seizures, hallucinations, and paralysis. Treatment for exposure to an infected animal involves a series of shots.