Six patients in the southwestern Yunnan province developed adverse effects after receiving injections of the medicine produced by Wandashan Pharmaceutical. Three of them later died. An investigation showed the drug batch contained dangerous bacteria.
Earlier the authorities only banned the sale and use of the very preparation that had caused the deaths. The drug made from Siberian ginseng had been used to treat liver, kidney and heart diseases, as well as neurotic conditions.
Chinese products have recently been recalled or banned worldwide after another scandal over melamine-tainted milk that killed four children and sickened over 50,000 in China.
Last year, a former head of the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration, who had headed the organization in 1998-2005, was executed for taking bribes to approve untested medical preparations.
