Police seize man linked to deadly diabetes drug

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-11 16:35

BEIJING - Chinese police have seized another man accused of distributing a fake diabetes drug that killed two patients and hospitalized nine others in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The drug, sold under the brand "Tang Zhi Ning Jiao Nang," was found to contain six times the normal dose of glibenclamide, a chemical used to help lower blood sugar. Taking a dosage of this size is potentially fatal. The two deaths occurred in January this year.

Fu Qichang, a chief suspect in the case, was captured by the police in eastern China's Shandong Province late on Sunday, Yan Jiangying, spokeswoman for the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), revealed at a press conference Wednesday.

Fu allegedly produced the fake drug in October/November 2008 in Linyi city of Shandong Province with Li Dong, another chief suspect in the case, and sold the drug to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the northeastern Liaoning Province.

Li was arrested in Liaoning province early Saturday. The police had also caught two other associates of Li.

Yan said the SFDA is working with the Ministry of Public Security in the investigation, and is trying to pull all the medicine off the shelves across the country.

The Xinjiang authorities said 14,400 bottles of the fake drug entered the region, of which 10,663 bottles had been recovered, including 3,539 taken from customers.

The drug also showed up in Liaoning and southwestern Sichuan Province. However, no one has been found to have fallen ill after taking the drug outside of Xinjiang.