Anti-infection drugs induce adverse effects in China

China reported more than 1.2 million cases of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in 2012, with anti-infection drugs accounting for 40 per cent of the total, the government said today.
Highlighting cephalosporin as causing the greatest number of ADR cases among anti-infection drugs, Yan Min, State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) official asked manufacturing companies to research the drug's ADR sources more thoroughly.
Yan said," the use of anti-infection drugs has been effectively regulated, as the proportion of ADR resulting from these drugs has been continuously dropping".
The ADR monitoring report noted that of the 1.2 million ADR cases, 81.6 per cent involved chemical-based medicine, while traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) contributed 17.1 per cent.

Biological products accounted for the rest, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.
New or severe adverse reactions accounted for 20 per cent of the total, the report said.
As injections took up the lion's share of the total cases with 56.7 percent, Yan urged health institutions to strengthen supervision over their use.
Recently Ministry of Health has also called for implementation of safer practices after local authorities in northeast China's Liaoning Province confirmed last month that 99 people had contracted hepatitis C at a private clinic from contaminated injections.