China revokes license of tainted drug maker

China revokes license of tainted drug maker
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has revoked the productionlicense of a Shanghai drug company for making contaminatedleukemia medicine, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday, asign of the country's harder line on product safety.
The drugs made by Hualian Pharmaceutical Co harmed severalhundred children, causing difficulty in walking for some,according to local media reports. They were recalled inSeptember by the Shanghai municipal government.
A spokeswoman of the State Food and Drug Administration(SFDA) said the highest fine under Chinese drug law would beleveled against the company and that several of its officialswere detained by police.
China has come under scrutiny for the safety of itsproducts in recent months due to a series of scandals involvingChinese exports ranging from toys to toothpaste. In the wake ofwidely publicized recalls, Beijing launched a nationwidecampaign to improve product quality.
The Shanghai government halted production and sale of thegeneric drugs -- methotrexate and cytarabin hydrochloride --after problems were reported in hospitals in Guangxi ZhuangAutonomous Region and Shanghai city, Xinhua said.
Investigations showed several batches of the two drugs hadbeen contaminated during production, the news agency reported.
"Leaders of the Shanghai Hualian Pharmaceutical Companyintentionally held back the facts of production violationsduring the investigation," the SFDA spokeswoman said, accordingto Xinhua.
The company was planning to compensate those who had fallenill after taking the tainted drugs, Xinhua added.
(Reporting by Simon Rabinovitch; Editing by AlexRichardson)