6 die after antibody vaccines in Chi

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6 die after antibody vaccines in China

BEIJING

Six people have died after being injected with a human antibody in eastern

China, a hospital spokeswoman said Monday, the latest case of deaths caused

by suspect medicine.

The six died after being injected with immune globulin, and the company that

sold the drugs was ordered to stop selling them, said a spokeswoman at the

No. 2 Hospital at Nanchang University in Jiangxi province.

The spokeswoman, who would give only her last name Yu, did not provide any

other details.

Immune globulin is an antibody extracted from blood plasma that can be

injected into muscles to protect against hepatitis A, and Rhesus disease in

pregnant women. It is rarely used to protect against hepatitis A in

developed countries where a childhood vaccination is normally given.

A spokeswoman for China's State Food and Drug Administration, Yan Jiangying,

confirmed the six had died.

A notice on the administration's Web site said an initial inspection of

samples of the antibody confirmed there were some abnormalities.

A notice on the Web site of the Jiangxi Food and Drug Administration said

the people died between May 22 and May 28.

The drugs were produced by Jiangxi Boya Bio-Pharmaceutical Co., and had the

same batch number, the notice said.

The State Food and Drug Administration and the Health Ministry ordered the

company to suspend sales last week and recall the batch of immune globulin,

the administration said on its Web site.

China's pharmaceutical industry is highly lucrative but spottily regulated,

enticing some to try to cash in by substituting fake or substandard

ingredients.

In April, five officials from a Chinese pharmaceutical company that sold a

tainted antibiotic responsible for more than a dozen deaths were sentenced

up to seven years in prison.