China's Drug Regulator To Monitor Confiscated Tainted Capsules

BEIJING, April 26 (Bernama) -- China's top drug regulator, the State Food and Drug Administration has ordered pharmacy supervision agencies nationwide to strictly monitor the confiscated capsules made from toxic industrial gelatin, to prevent them from flowing back into the market. Drug administrative authorities should ensure all the unqualified capsules were totally destroyed, the administration said on its website. This was is response to several cases of tainted capsules found to have been discarded in Central China's Henan province, following the capsule scandals revealed by China Central Television on April 15. The administration said local drug authorities should tighten checks on pharmaceutical companies, to stop them from randomly discarding the tainted capsules. Nine companies have been accused of manufacturing drug capsules with industrial gelatin, which contains great amount of chromium and may result in chronic diseases if taken in excessive amounts, according to a report from China Central Television. The Ministry of Public Security said on Sunday that it had confiscated 77 million tainted capsules in Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Hebei provinces, arrested nine suspects, detained 54 people and busted 80 production lines. -- BERNAMA