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Many, many companies in China are owned by the government.
Communism is, after all, government ownership of private assets.
One
of those government-owned companies, Shanghai Hualian, is a very large
drug maker. It has many plants. Dozens of plants, some of
which supply the U.S. It manufactures cancer drugs, mifeprepristone
(RU-486 - the abortion pill) among others.
Some of those
drugs were contaminated, a leukemia drug, methotrexate. 200 Chinese
cancer patients were parylized or otherwise harmed. When?
Last summer. When did the contamination become public? Today. Months and months later.
What did the Chinese FDA equivalent agency do? Good question.
The
director of the Chinese F.D.A.’s drug safety control unit in Shanghai,
Zhou Qun, said her agency had inspected the factory that produced
mifepristone three times in recent months and found it in compliance.
“It is natural to worry,” Ms. Zhou said, “but these two plants are in
two different places and have different quality-assurance people.”
Yes. But the same regulator. And the same regulatory culture.
Remember what happened to the last head of the Chinese FDA? He was executed by his employer. But before his government execution, his agency was very productive. They approved 7,500 new drugs each workday. 7,500 new drugs each workday.
The U.S. FDA approved 140 last year.
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