Life-Saving Drugs

By Ji Jing

In July 2013， many areas in China saw a shortage of thiamazole tablets， a drug for treating hyperthyroidism， a condition in which the body produces too much thyroid. Numerous patients took to social media to share their concerns of not being able to obtain a single package of the drug after searching drugstores across their cities.

The shortfall in the drug came about primarily because pharmaceutical companies had developed low motivation for producing it， owing to factors such as low profits and stricter environmental regulation.

One bottle of the drug， containing 100 tablets， was priced 1.48 yuan to 4.9 yuan （$0.2 to$0.76）. Only 13 drug companies had obtained approval to produce the drug and only three companies had received the green light to produce the active pharmaceutical ingredient （API）， the biologically active component in any medicinal product. Some companies had， over time， gradually ceased producing the drug. Of those three companies producing API， only Yanjing Pharmaceutical Co. in Beijing continued to make the tablets. However， the company halted all production of the thiamazole tablet API on March 2013 because its certificate for production had expired.

To address the shortage， the government extended the period of validity for the certificate and allowed the company to resume production.

To help the company restart the manufacturing process more swiftly， the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology （MIIT） and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology provided subsidies for the company to carry out technological upgrades.

Yet the thiamazole tablets werent the only drug in short supply. In early 2017， penicillamine tablets， a drug for treating Wilsons disease， a rare genetic disorder that causes excess copper to build up in various organs， came in short supply across China owing to a lack of raw materials. Family members of patients reached out for help on social media， which drew widespread attention to the problem.

Wilsons disease is progressive and if left untreated may cause liver disease， damage to the central nervous system， and eventually death.

Drugs like the thiamazole and penicillamine tablets are necessary for medical treatment， and saving lives even， but were often more likely to suffer shortage because of their thin profits and small market demand. As a result， many patients had to turn to more expensive imported drugs as alternatives.