China’s dodgy drug makers face hefty fines after public review of draft vaccine management law
- After repeated scandals, people call for financial penalties for producers of substandard or fake drugs to be three times higher than government recommended
- Revised legislation would also give families affected by unsafe drugs right to apply for punitive damages
Chinese pharmaceutical companies found guilty of manufacturing or selling substandard or counterfeit vaccines will face much stiffer penalties than first proposed following a public review of a new piece of legislation.
The first draft of the vaccine management law was released for public consideration in November, and following that process a revised version was sent back to state legislators for their approval on Saturday.
Under the amended proposals, companies embroiled in vaccine scandals can be fined between 15 and 30 times the value of the goods involved, or three times as much as was first suggested.
The legislation also allows for families affected by unsafe drugs, leading to serious illness or death, to apply for punitive damages on top of any compensation awarded to them by the courts.
The call for errant drug makers to be made to pay heavily for their crimes is a clear response to a wave of vaccine scandals in China in recent years that has left the public’s confidence in locally produced drugs in tatters.