Report: China drug ingredients unregulated

MILAN, Italy, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- At least 82 Chinese companies at the world's largest pharmaceutical ingredient trade show in Italy are not government-certified, The New York Times reports.

The companies included Honor International Pharmtech, which allegedly sent counterfeit drugs to the United States, and Orient Pacific International, whose owner has been charged with selling counterfeit drugs for serious diseases like prostate cancer and schizophrenia. Two government-owned export companies at the fair were responsible for 200 deaths in Panama and Haiti from bad drug ingredients, the Times said.

Almost 500 Chinese companies were at the Milan show, and most of them produce legitimate products. But they fall into a regulatory gray area in China.

The State Food and Drug Administration regulates pharmaceutical companies in China, while other agencies provide oversight for chemical companies. Chemical companies that sell pharmaceutical ingredients are not regulated, the newspaper said.

"We have never investigated a chemical company," said Yan Jiangying, deputy director of policy and regulation for food and drug regulation. "We don’t have jurisdiction."