Four people die from fake medicine made by Chinese company

Four people died from injecting a fake drug made by a Chinese pharmaceutical company, state media reported Monday. Six others who took the drug are still hospitalized, and one person was sickened but recovered, said China 's State Food and Drug Administration, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Photo: Four people die from fake medicine made by Chinese company

The drug, called Armillarisni A, supposedly treated inflamed gallbladders and stomach linings, Xinhua reported. But, in manufacturing the drug, the company used a chemical, diglycol, that can cause kidney failure but that a vendor passed off as a normal ingredient and that quality inspectors failed to detect, Xinhua said.

The drug company, Qiqihar No. 2 Pharmaceutical Co.Ltd. in China 's northeastern Heilongjiang province, has been shut down and its products banned, administration spokesman Zhang Jixiang was quoted as saying. In addition, police have detained the vendor, Wang Guiping, Xinhua said. The report was issued after business hours, and phone calls to the company rang unanswered, reports the AP.

N.U.