chinese join with americans to kill and injure rather than treat or and orevent with bcg
see faustmanlab.org pubmed.org ristori+ bcg
China’s Vaccine Scandal
Children get phony protection but officials aren’t held accountable.
A child receiving a vaccination shot at the local disease control and prevention center in Jiujiang in China's central Jiangxi province, July 24. PHOTO: -/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Xi Jinping boasts that he is building the “Chinese Dream” of a strong and prosperous nation, but the vision of China’s supreme leader is losing some of its luster. Over the past couple of weeks parents in China have learned that a compulsory public-health program injected an unknown number of children with substandard vaccines. They are understandably furious.
Mr. Xi called the case “hideous and appalling,” and he has promised a thorough investigation. But websites and state-run media are only allowed to republish official pronouncements on the case, suggesting the authorities are still covering up the extent of the crime.
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Last November officials in Jilin province found that the Changsheng Biotechnology Co. falsified production data for a diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus (DPT) vaccine. After national regulators found similar problems with Changsheng’s rabies vaccine this month, the provincial government revealed that problems with the DPT vaccine affected more than 250,000 doses. Another company in Wuhan was responsible for 400,000 faulty DPT injections.
On July 21 an anonymous report on the WeChat messaging platform, similar to WhatsApp, accused corrupt regulators of hiding the problems of vaccines made by Changsheng. That was plausible because officials have been disciplined for taking bribes from the company in the past. Online expressions of anger at the scandal exploded.
Chinese are particularly angry because similar cases have happened in recent years, followed by similar promises to crack down. In 2010 and 2013 hundreds of children were hospitalized and several died from faulty vaccines. Chinese companies have used official connections to avoid accountability for producing a range of defective products that kill and maim. In 2008 Chinese dairy companies knowingly sold infant formula that contained melamine, a chemical that damaged the kidneys of hundreds of thousands of children. At least six died. A decade later, many parents will only feed their children imported formula.
The official response follows a familiar pattern. Journalists and lawyers who try to follow up or investigate similar cases are jailed. The officials responsible are transferred to new posts, having learned that covering up scandals is more important than preventing them. Sun Xianze, one of the food-safety regulators disciplined in the 2008 dairy scandal, was in charge of drug safety until his retirement in March.
The scandal will hurt Mr. Xi’s plan to build the pharmaceutical industry as part of his “Made in China 2025” industrial policy. But the damage to the public’s faith in his administration is harder to quantify. Because the Communist Party is effectively above the law and China lacks a free media capable of being a watchdog, his promise to get to the bottom of the problem rings hollow.
Officials insist that Mr. Xi’s anticorruption campaign is a serious attempt to improve Communist Party governance and not merely a tool to remove political opponents. Ordinary Chinese can be forgiven for reaching a different conclusion as the health of children is sacrificed to protect the Party’s power. And Americans enamored of China’s supposed authoritarian efficiency might contemplate the cost of its lack of accountability.
Appeared in the July 28, 2018, print edition.
Sanofi to Stop Production of Bladder-Cancer Drug BCG
Drugmaker cites inability to restore full capacity of a Toronto manufacturing plant
Sanofi SA on Friday said it will cease production of its version of the bladder-cancer drug BCG in mid-2017. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Sanofi SA plans to stop producing a bladder-cancer treatment that was in short supply for several years, saying it hasn’t been able to restore full production at a Toronto manufacturing plant that had contamination problems.
Sanofi said in a statement Friday it will cease production of its version of the drug BCG, which it sells under the brands TheraCys and ImmuCyst, in mid-2017. A spokeswoman said the company has tried to fix problems at its Toronto plant, but its efforts “cannot guarantee the long-term continuity and reliable supply of the product.”
BCG is one of dozens of drugs that has been in short supply in the U.S. in recent years, many because of manufacturing-quality lapses. Some 174 drugs were in short supply as of Sept. 30, according to the University of Utah’s Drug Information Service.
Sanofi hasn’t supplied BCG for the U.S. market since 2012, when it suspended production to fix manufacturing-quality problems raised by U.S. and Canadian regulators. Sanofi had previously planned to reintroduce the drug to the U.S. market, but now has dropped those plans.
News on the production halt was reported by Forbes.com late Thursday.
Merck & Co., the only other supplier for the U.S., has boosted production to try to fill the gap. Merck’s own production problems at a North Carolina plant squeezed the BCG supply for the U.S. in 2014 and 2015. But Merck has had a good supply for the past year, said Erin Fox, director of the Utah Drug Information Service.
A Merck spokeswoman said the company is able to meet the increased demand for BCG around the world, and will try to maintain the supply in light of Sanofis decision.
The BCG shortage forced delays in treatment for many patients, and some were switched to alternatives that doctors said were less desirable. BCG, a liquid delivered into a patient’s bladder, is typically used to ward off relapses after procedures to remove early-stage bladder tumors.
The BCG shortage followed a 2012 mold infestation that halted production for more than two years at Sanofi’s Toronto plant. Sanofi renovated the plant and resumed production in 2014, but at a reduced capacity, and now supplies BCG doses to Canada, France and the U.K.
The company expects to be able to continue supplying doses in Canada, France and the U.K. until the end of 2018. Sanofi said it has notified health agencies in these countries to give them time to find alternative suppliers. Manufacturers in Germany, Denmark, India and Japan also make the product.
Write to Peter Loftus at peter.loftus@wsj.com
