Chinese drug supervision authorities revoked the business licenses of 160 drug manufacturers and retailers in a bid to clean up the pharmaceutical industry in 2006.

Chinese drug supervision authorities have inspected pharmaceutical companies across China over the past year and punished those companies that had irregular purchase and sale records, advertised illegally, worked beyond their business scope, and leased or transferred their licenses without authorization, said Wang Lifeng, director of the Market Supervision Department under the State Food and Drug Administration.

Chinese drug supervision authorities inspected 3,972 drug wholesalers and 40,152 drug retailers in 2006. The authorities also revoked the Good Sales Practice certificates, a must for the drug manufacturers, of 135 companies.

China is expected to blacklist drug manufacturers and retailers who illegal advertise, provide false information or exaggerates the benefits of their products, said Wang at a conference in Nanchang on Tuesday.

The blacklisted companies will be published on the government's websites, said Wang.

A survey by the State Food and Drug Administration of 466 newspapers and 55 local TV stations from January to November last year discovered 48,990 illegal advertisements for drug products.

(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2007)