A pharmaceutical company in northeast China has recovered most of the dangerous rabies vaccine that was tested to contain an illegal ingredient, the company spokeswoman said Sunday.

The vaccine, which was produced last year by Dalian Jingang-Andi Bio-products Co. in Dalian City, Liaoning Province, failed the test launched in January by the National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products.

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) announced a recall for the vaccine on Friday.

The company produced 360,200 doses of the vaccine last year, and 321,800 of them have been recovered, said Wang Zeqing, the company spokeswoman.

There has been no report of vaccine-related illness so far, she added.

The company has suspended operation since Jan. 14. Only employees engaged in the recall are at work.

Wang promised thorough cooperation with the ongoing investigation.

The nucleic acid ingredient acts as an adjuvant, a substance used to enhance the effectiveness of a drug or a pesticide.

The AQSIQ said earlier that the nucleic acid materials could not be used in human vaccine, since "the experiment had not entered human clinical trials yet."

The company's rabies vaccine accounts for approximately 20 percent of the domestic market, according to the company's website.

In the far western region of Xinjiang, two people died last month after using a fake diabetes drug, which also contained an illegal ingredient. The drug also sent 11 others to hospital in the region.

(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2009)