Beijing, China, Feb 1, 2008 / 04:44 am
A state-owned Chinese pharmaceutical company that manufactures the RU-486 abortion pill faces accusations that tainted leukemia drugs produced by the company have paralyzed or otherwise harmed nearly 200 Chinese cancer patients, the New York Times reports.
The Shanghai Hualian factory that produced the drugs has been closed by drug regulators. In December, China’s Food and Drug Administration said that Shanghai police had begun a criminal investigation, detaining two officials including the head of the factory.
The New York Times reports that last week, a window near the gate of the closed plant displayed a sign from the Chinese FDA accusing the factory of “producing substandard medicine that poses major risks of causing serious harm to human health.”
Shanghai Hualian is the United States’ sole provider of the abortion pill mifepristone, known as RU-486. The mifepristone factory is an hour’s drive away from the plant under investigation.