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Deadly diabetes drug found in Sichuan

HEALTH authorities in southwest China's Sichuan Province have found 215 bottles of a counterfeit diabetes drug that caused two deaths and hospitalized nine others last month in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

No one in Sichuan has been reported sick from taking the drug so far, a spokesman for the provincial food and drug safety bureau said yesterday.

He said 144 bottles had been sold, while 71 bottles had been recovered from pharmacies and customers.

Most of the fake medicine was found in a drugstore in Jiangyou City. The drugs were also found in Nantong and Guangyuan.

According to an initial investigation, the deadly drugs entered Sichuan from Liaoning Province.

Sichuan will continue efforts to search for the drug, the spokesman said.

The counterfeit drug, carrying the brand name Tang Zhi Ning Jiao Nang, was confirmed to contain the illegal doses of the chemical glibenclamide, which is used to help lower blood sugar. But the counterfeit drugs contained six times the normal dose of the chemical.

Kashi authorities, in the western part of Xinjiang, reported that two people died on January 17 and 19 after taking the drugs. Four others, in stable condition, are receiving treatment in a Kashi hospital.

Police had sealed 9,391 bottles of the drug in Xinjiang as of Sunday, 2,663 of which were seized from customers.

Authorities said on Monday that four suspects had been detained in Xinjiang for selling the deadly drug.

Authorities also said that their preliminary investigation showed that the counterfeit drug was not produced in Xinjiang, though they had failed to find its source.


 

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