China Daily/Asia News Network
05/27/2010

A Chinese biological company has issued a recall of a batch of its human rabies vaccine over concerns for consumer safety, the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) announced.

The vaccine, which was made and released by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products in Central China’s Hubei province under batch number 200905007-3, involved 10,902 doses, of which 8,376 had been used by Monday, the administration said in an online statement on Tuesday.

To date, drug authorities have received no reports of adverse sideeffects associated with the substandard vaccine, the statement said.

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The vaccine was found to contain an excessive amount of bacteria endotoxin, which can cause fever.

Other factors, such as whether and how this would impact its effectivenes, as well as when and where it was released and used, were not mentioned.

Health professionals recommend that people who have been bitten by dogs or other animals receive the human rabies vaccine as soon as possible, because the disease is nearly 100 percent fatal for those infected.

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Associated Free Press
05/16/2010

Chinese authorities have fined two drug companies, including one authorised to make swine flu vaccines, for producing substandard rabies shots, state media said Monday.

Ealong Biotech Company was fined 25 million yuan (3.6 million dollars) and Bioforwell Company was told to pay five million yuan for producing 210,000 units of a rabies vaccine in 2008, the Global Times newspaper reported.

The companies had reduced the level of a key ingredient to cut costs, rendering the jabs ineffective, it quoted the State Food and Drug Administration as saying.

Ealong Biotech, based in eastern Jiangsu province, is one of a handful of companies authorised to produce the nation’s vaccines for swine flu, or the A(H1N1) virus.

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