China slaps US$ 1.3 billion fine on firm caught in vaccine scandal

By PharmaCompass

2018-10-25

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China has imposed a whopping US$ 1.3 billion fine on Changchun Changsheng Biotechnology Company — the company responsible for manufacturing faulty vaccines that are given to hundreds of thousands of children.

The US$ 1.3 billion fine and asset seizure is the latest move by authorities to punish Jilin province-based Changchun Changsheng over the faulty rabies vaccine. The amount includes the forfeiture of 1.89 billion yuan (US$ 272.2 million) in revenue from the sale of the vaccine.

The fine comes at a time of increasing anxieties among the country’s growing middle class. Earlier this year, news surrounding the defective vaccines had sparked outrage in China, marked by rare public protests outside government buildings, as parents asked how they could trust authorities to protect Chinese children.

In July this year, the company’s chairwoman and 14 other people had been arrested in connection with the vaccine scandal, while more than a dozen national, provincial and local officials had been sacked. Changchun Changsheng was ordered to cease production after it was found to have fabricated records.

Over the last year, the defective rabies vaccine was one of the two major controversies to hit Changchun Changsheng. About 250,000 diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus (DPT) vaccines for children, also produced by Changchun Changsheng, were found to be faulty by Chinese investigators in November 2017.

The US$ 1.3 billion fine comes in addition to a US$ 507,843 penalty slapped on the company by the Chinese government in July for their original batch of defective children's vaccines.

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