Officials Caution Use of Fake ViagraA warning was issued recently by health and pharmaceutical officials in east China's Shanghai Municipality to caution customers against fake anti-impotent medicine, Viagra.The Shanghai Bureau of the Drug Administration and the Administration for Industry and Commerce issued the warning after spotting fake drugs in Shanghai sex health shops last month. The discovered counterfeit products have the exact same shape, color and packaging as Wan Ai Ke, the Chinese brand name for Viagra, which was launched as a prescription medicine in China with approval from the State Drug Administration last September. According to reports by the Shanghai Evening Post and the website "eastday.com.cn", about 90 percent of Viagra sold in Shanghai is not real. Another article in Shanghai's Xinmin Evening News said that in the past few months the city's health bureau inspected 197 sex health product distributors and discovered dozens of items with forged approval numbers. Pfizer, the blue pill's manufacturer, expressed its willingness to cooperate with the government departments in a nation-wide anti-counterfeit campaign in order to ensure the safety of patients. Shanghai health officials said that as a prescription drug, Viagra should only be used in hospitals. Sources said that Shanghai Pharmacy Co., Ltd and China Pharmacy Group Shanghai Company are the only two authorized Viagra suppliers for local hospitals. The maximum dosage of the drug is two pills a week. Viagra is sold in all hospitals in Shanghai at an officially set price of 100 yuan (approximately US$12). China Vows to Fight Against Fake Drug ProducersThe State Drug Administration (SDA) will revamp drug laws over the next five years in a move to safeguard public health.Sources with the SDA said that the administration will revise the existing laws and regulations and map out new ones to adapt to demands from consumers and aid the country's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). The crackdown on making and marketing fake and substandard medicines will go on, and over the next three years the SDA will set up a national information network for the supervision and management of pharmaceuticals and medical devices, the Beijing-based newspaper said. According to the SDA, China currently has only one law and 10 State Council regulations for the management of the industry and distribution in the country. Some of them will be revised in line with current economic and social conditions, the newspaper said. Data from the SDA indicate that the country has witnessed a large increase in the pharmaceutical and medicine distribution network over the past two decades. Industrial output value grew by 17.6 percent a year between 1978 and 1999. |
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