CCP fire provincial official and investigate drug regulator in response to Changsheng vaccine scandal

pharmafile | August 17, 2018 | News story | Medical Communications China, Vaccine, changsheng, drug safety, regulation 

The Chinese government has fired a senior provincial official and is probing a former senior drug regulator in response to the Changsheng Biotechnology vaccine scandal.

A meeting of the Communist Party’s politburo, held yesterday and overseen by Chairman Xi Jingping, ordered the dismissal of Jin Yuhai, the vice Governor of the north-eastern province of Jilin in which Changsheng Biotechnology is based.  Former vice Governor Jin had been responsible for food and drug safety in the Chinese province which has a population of more than 27 million.

Wu Zhen, a former deputy head of the national Food and Drug Administration will also be investigated by the Communist Party’s anti-corruption watchdog in relation to the Changsheng Biotechnology scandal.

Meanwhile regulators ordered Changsheng to halt production and recall its ineffective rabies vaccines as the company faces the risk of being delisted from the Shenzhen stock exchange.

In total, more than 40 government officials, including seven at the provincial level, have been held accountable for the scandal.   

Guo Hongzhi, a senior official at the Jilin branch of the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), and Bai Xugui, a senior member of the Jilin branch of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology who oversaw drug supervision as deputy mayor of Jilin between 2016 and 2018, were both removed from their posts in response to the scandal.

Meanwhile Zeng Xiangdong and Yan Haijiang, both deputy directors at the Jilin branch of the CFDA, were fired from their positions. Four other Changchun city CFDA officials were also sacked.

Louis Goss

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