China Probes Ex-Official Who Oversaw Clinical Trials for Bribery/ Bloomberg
From the point of view of a physician, prescribing newly licensed drugs to patients is a nerve-wracking activity, as I have no assurance they are as safe and effective as claimed. And they are assuredly more expensive than the old standards. From Bloomberg:
Chinese prosecutors announced a bribery investigation
into a former national health official who for at least a decade oversaw
clinical drug trials and implemented hospital policies. Wang Yu, the former
director of the National Health and Family Planning Commission’s bureau of
medical administration, has been arrested and is being investigated by
prosecutors in the southwestern province of Sichuan, China’s Supreme People’s
Procuratorate said on its website Tuesday. Bloomberg News reported earlier this month that Wang was
suspected of violating Communist Party discipline, according to a person with
direct knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named because the probe
wasn’t public.
Before retiring last year, Wang was responsible
for supervising trials of drugs and medical devices, as well as
drafting policies for medical institutions. The prosecutor’s statement
Tuesday provided no details about bribery allegations against him.
The health industry is facing greater scrutiny in China, with the
government in September fining British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc 3
billion yuan ($484 million) for paying bribes to win customers in the
world’s most populous country. Authorities also last year started a
preliminary probe into the business practices of foreign
medical-equipment makers, people familiar with the matter said earlier this month.