Several companies in Hong Kong and Shenzhen had been found to smuggle foreign anti-cancer drugs into China and sell them on a black market. Due to the lack of cold-chain storage during smuggling, some of the drugs may have been inefficient or even dangerous to the patient. In one case, anti-cancer drugs were mixed with fructose and starch and sold as “anticancer capsules” for 2500 yuan per gram to patients, possibly also to hospital doctords and hospitals. These capsules were advertised on the company’s official website and probably sold throughout the country. In First Instance, a Shenzhen court found that the defendants violated national drug regulations, produced and sold counterfeit drugs under particularly serious circumstances. The defendents were sentenced from 10 to 13 years in prison and fined RMB 5 – 15 million. Some defendant appealed to the Higher People’s Court of Guangdong Province, and the case is still under trial.
China Bio news release, January 18, 2018