Website bid to sell medicines blocked
Source: Xinhua |
July 9, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ZHEJIANG provincial food and drug authorities have ordered Taobao.com, China's leading e-commerce platform, to stop pharmaceutical drugs being sold on the website as the company hasn't obtained relevant official certificates, according to an official with the State Food and Drug Administration.
Wang Songlin, a senior SFDA official, was speaking at a news conference yesterday in Beijing over the controversy around the Zhejiang based company entering the drug retailing businesses.
Retailers as well as third-party providers must first get approval from food and drug administrative departments in order to sell drugs on the Internet, and they must post their certificate number on the front page of their website, Wang said.
Wang said Taobao had a certificate for providing drug information over the Internet, but has yet to get clearance to sell drugs online.
Official SFDA figures show that China has 69 certified online drug trading groups, while only 39 of them are allowed to sell drugs to individuals.
The government has been regulating the drug industry in an effort to clean out fake drugs and exaggerated advertising.
The SFDA yesterday also made public 90 typical drug-related intellectual property rights infringement cases of over 300 million yuan (US$46 million).
These cases were uncovered during a special IPR protection campaign that started in November last year.
"We found a growing trend to lure Internet users with advertisements that exaggerated the effects of fake drugs," said Cui Enxue, deputy head of the inspection bureau under the SFDA.
"Many people violate rules to make fake drugs for low costs... and the punishment, as stipulated in the country's law, is not harsh enough to intimidate them," Cui said, adding that many buyers, on the other hand, are not cautious enough. China's Criminal Law only provides for up to three years in prison for fake drug makers.
So far, the SFDA has also shut down 245 illegal websites and ordered the blocking of another 295 overseas sites for providing fake drug information. Cui said the SFDA will focus on online selling of fake drugs as well as their manufacturers in the upcoming crackdown.
Wang Songlin, a senior SFDA official, was speaking at a news conference yesterday in Beijing over the controversy around the Zhejiang based company entering the drug retailing businesses.
Retailers as well as third-party providers must first get approval from food and drug administrative departments in order to sell drugs on the Internet, and they must post their certificate number on the front page of their website, Wang said.
Wang said Taobao had a certificate for providing drug information over the Internet, but has yet to get clearance to sell drugs online.
Official SFDA figures show that China has 69 certified online drug trading groups, while only 39 of them are allowed to sell drugs to individuals.
The government has been regulating the drug industry in an effort to clean out fake drugs and exaggerated advertising.
The SFDA yesterday also made public 90 typical drug-related intellectual property rights infringement cases of over 300 million yuan (US$46 million).
These cases were uncovered during a special IPR protection campaign that started in November last year.
"We found a growing trend to lure Internet users with advertisements that exaggerated the effects of fake drugs," said Cui Enxue, deputy head of the inspection bureau under the SFDA.
"Many people violate rules to make fake drugs for low costs... and the punishment, as stipulated in the country's law, is not harsh enough to intimidate them," Cui said, adding that many buyers, on the other hand, are not cautious enough. China's Criminal Law only provides for up to three years in prison for fake drug makers.
So far, the SFDA has also shut down 245 illegal websites and ordered the blocking of another 295 overseas sites for providing fake drug information. Cui said the SFDA will focus on online selling of fake drugs as well as their manufacturers in the upcoming crackdown.
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