Pharmaceutical groups punished for misleading ads

Thirty enterprises have been banned from advertising products as they continued to publish "severely illegal" adverts despite multiple warnings, the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) said Monday.

The advertisements -- involving 33 products ranging from capsules, medical equipment to health supplements -- featured unapproved content including exaggerated effect descriptions and misleading "proven effectiveness" statements by research institutes, experts or patients.

According to the CFDA, the companies were repeat offenders who despite being caught last year still continued to advertise their products in the first quarter of 2015.

The CFDA said it had given warnings to these companies and revoked the advertising licenses for the products in question.

Local supervisory organs have been advised to keep a closer eye on companies with a history of misleading advertising.