Death toll from tainted Chinese antibiotic rises to 14

A 37-year-old man died of kidney failure after being treated with an antibiotic tainted with an antifreeze ingredient, the 14th fatality linked to the drug since 2006, state media and a hospital said Thursday.

The man, surnamed Ren, died Wednesday at the No. 3 Zhongshan Hospital in the southern city of Guangzhou, said a woman who answered the phone at the hospital's Communist Party administration office. She would not give her name.

Ren, who was hospitalized for hepatitis, was one of 65 patients at the hospital who received injections of the antibiotic, Armillarisni A, in April 2006, said the official Xinhua News Agency.

By the end of 2007, 13 patients had died from kidney failure, according to Xinhua.

The antibiotic-linked deaths have drawn wide media attention and national outrage over the continued lack of enforcement of safety standards in China's food and drug manufacturing sectors. The country's pharmaceutical industry is highly lucrative but spottily regulated, enticing some to try to cash in by substituting fake or substandard ingredients.

Following the 2006 deaths at the hospital, investigators found an unlicensed vendor had passed off a thickening agent used in antifreeze, diethylene glycol or DEG, which is also known as diglycol, as a substitute for an ingredient in the antibiotic used to treat liver and gallbladder diseases.

Quality inspectors at the drug manufacturer, Qiqihar No. 2 Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., had failed to discover the problem. The government shut down drug the company in 2006 and ordered its products removed from shelves.

The vendor, who made a profit of about US$900 from the deal, was arrested. Five people were tried in Guangzhou last year for allowing diglycol to be used in the production of the antibiotic. The results of the trial have not been released to the public.

Eleven of the patients, including Ren, have sued the hospital for 20 million yuan (US$2.7 million, euro2 million) in compensation.

The lawsuit is still before the courts, Xinhua said.

Beijing has cracked down in the past year, when international concerns mounted after potentially dangerous levels of toxins were found in Chinese exports, including a pet food ingredient laced with the industrial chemical melamine, and toothpaste containing DEG.