Chinese vaccine giant gets a taste of its own medicine

A few months ago I wrote about the damning revelations surrounding one of China’s most trusted vaccines providers. Changsheng Biotech had been profiteering from the creation and distribution of useless vaccines for children. First, they mixed old vaccines with new ones when selling jabs meant to immunise against diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus (all three diseases are potentially fatal to infants); then, a year later, they faked the production dates and batch numbers of rabies vaccines. The punishment for the first drugs transgression was a mere 3.4 million yuan – less than £400,000, and only 0.0003 per cent of the company’s annual turnover. It was no more than a slap on the wrist. The rumours are that the company had friends in high places, (a former Chinese President, no less). It was a depressing but all too classic tale of corruption.

But since then, it seems like the authorities mean business. At the time, Beijing trotted out premier Li Keqiang to state that Changsheng had ‘violated an ethical bottom line’.