Bogus drugs kill 4 in southern China

BEIJING, May 15 (Reuters) Bogus drugs made by a Chinese company have killed four people and led to severe kidney failure in at least six, Chinese newspapers reported today.

Injections of Armillarisin A, produced by Qiqihar No. 2 Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., based in the northeastern province of Heilonjiang, killed four people at a hospital in the southern city of Guangzhou, the Beijing Times said.

Six remained in hospital in serious condition, it said.

The drug, which is used to treat gall bladder, liver and gastric disorders, had ''serious flaws in the manufacturing process'', the China Daily quoted the country's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) as saying.

A chemical produced by a manufacturer in China's eastern province of Jiangsu and used in the manufacture of the drug, propylene glycol, was found to be bogus, said SFDA official Cao Yongwen.

Police detained an employee of Taixing Chemical Plant, the Jiangsu chemical maker, in connection with the incident, the Shanghai Daily said.

The Qiqihar drug maker's operations were also shut down pending investigations and a nationwide campaign to recall the tainted drug -- numbering in the millions and distributed across the country -- was launched, the China Daily said.

The consumption of fake and inferior quality products has claimed dozens of lives in China in recent years.

A major health scandal erupted in 2004 after China revealed that at least 13 babies died of malnutrition in the country's eastern province of Anhui after being fed fake baby milk.

REUTERS AK RS1053