Safety Falters As Chinese Quiet Those Who Cry Foul

The new food and drug agency would come into existence the following year.

Among the central components of Zheng's reform plan was the awarding of Good Manufacturing Practice certificates to pharmaceutical manufacturers. They were awarded to entities that had supposedly passed rigorous inspections, and companies could no longer operate without them.

As Zheng continued to prosper, consolidating his power at the SFDA, so did companies based in his province. Kangliyuan was one such company. Zheng and Tang Xudong, Kangliyuan's chief executive, had what state media have described as a close relationship. The company received its good practice certificate early on, in 2002, according to announcements in the local state press.

Located in the country's domestic tourist center of Hangzhou, Kangliyuan at that time was just one of more than 6,700 up-and-coming drugmakers in China. That year, Kangliyuan reported about $26 million in sales, according to China Business News.

Just a few years later, however, thanks to the speedy drug agency approval of its requests for licenses, business was booming. Kangliyuan opened branches in Beijing, Shanghai and nearly 200 other cities in China. By 2006, it was producing 165 medicines with 286 specifications and was collaborating to develop 20 more. Most of the licenses were for antibiotics, which are highly profitable. Sales hit more than $210 million, making Kangliyuan one of China's largest pharmaceutical companies, according to the government Web site in Hainan province, where Kangliyuan's factories were located.

In all, about one-fifth of all drug production licenses during Zheng's tenure were issued to companies based in Zhejiang, according to state media.

Investigators later found that Kangliyuan was repackaging generic drugs and sometimes substituting neutral ingredients for real medicine. Drug agency investigators are still trying to determine the full impact of Zheng's and Kangliyuan's scheme.

"The corruption had a vile effect, as Zheng's offenses threatened public health and tarnished the image of the Party and the government," according to the report of his arrest.

Its offices here closed and its managers unreachable, Kangliyuan could not be contacted for this article.

As a result of the investigation into Zheng's dealings, a number of local government officials, including two former heads of the Hangzhou food and drug agency, have also been brought down. Zheng Shangjin is awaiting trial on charges of accepting bribes. And the former leader of Hangzhou's agency, Zhou Hang, was sentenced to death for taking bribes.

In addition, Kangliyuan's factories at a subsidiary on the southern island of Hainan were shut down in February.

170,000 Drugs to Review

Chinese officials have now begun the tedious process of reviewing nearly 170,000 drugs approved during Zheng's tenure.

Zhang, who posted the essay detailing Zheng's dealings with Kangliyuan, is employed by a pharmaceutical company based in Guangdong province. He has a girlfriend and owns an apartment close to his old company in Hainan but says he cannot go back and live there because he's been all but blacklisted by the drug industry there and cannot get a job. He's been compensated less than $150 (based on the average salary in the area where he used to work) for the more than $3,500 in pay he lost during the nine months he was incarcerated.

He said he has received no apology from the state or from the local government. The last communication he had with officials was the day Zheng was executed. He got a phone call from the prosecutors who helped convict Zheng, he said, and they told him not to talk about his case anymore, saying: "It's over. You understand? It's not certain people's fault."

"Their power is very great," said Zhang, referring to Kangliyuan and the government officials. Zhang says he worries that "once this wave of controversy is gone, they can start again."

Even though Zheng has been executed, cases related to him continue to crop up. Most recently, an employee of Hangzhou Aoyi Baoling Pharmaceutical posted a bulletin-board entry describing how her company made fake tonic for pregnant women that supposedly contained nutritional supplements.

"Hangzhou Aoyi Baoling, driven by a desire for profits, doesn't care about people's life and health," wrote Zhou Huanxi, 49, in an online essay.

In the report, Zhou said she worked in the factory's workshop and was told to mix sugar water instead of more expensive vitamins into the oral solution, which is still sold in stores across the country and costs about $2.50 for each box of 12 vials. She said she tried to report the scam to authorities in 2002 but that drug agency officials conspired with the company to mount a coverup.

Zhou was fired from her job and put in jail for three years and six months on extortion charges. She was released in November 2005 and posted her story online this March.

To make the information public was a "citizen's responsibility," she wrote. "The report was true. I should be given praises and rewards. It didn't occur to me that what I'd get is total destruction."

Reached at her home in Hangzhou, Zhou said she could not discuss the case because government authorities had told her they were continuing their investigation and expected to be able to announce something by the end of the month.

Hangzhou Aoyi Baoling general manager Zhong Hai Rong said the issue Zhou raised was a "technical one" in which the labeling didn't match the contents of the tonic. He said that the problem was fixed long ago and that there are no quality issues with the product.

Staff researcher Crissie Ding contributed to this report.