16 local drug makers to be shut down
11/5/2004 18:28
Sixteen local drug companies will be closed down by year end for failing
the Good Manufacturing Practice For Drugs (GMP) authentication, while another
five have cancelled applications for local production, today's Youth Daily
reported.
The 16 companies plan to restructure before reapplying for the
authentication, while the five will open new plants outside of Shanghai.
The
shutdown won't have great impacts on the supply of medicine to the city, said
drug administrative official Tan Wukang, because the 110 companies that have so
far passed the GMP provide 90 percent of the city's drug output.
Of the
remaining 56 companies, 13 will try to undergo GMP authentication in the first
half-year and 17 will take it in the second half.
Under the country's new
drug production law, companies failing the GMP standard will be barred from
production.
To those companies in the process of technology upgrading, the
State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) will give a six months period of
grace. By the end of this year, if they still are unable to pass, they will be
closed down.
China introduced GMP authentication, an international standards
of medicine production, in 1998. In 2003, to ensure medicine safety, the SFDA
regulated that all drug enterprises and workshops must pass GMP authentication
by July 1, 2004 to continue operation.
Jane Chen/ Shanghai Daily news
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