Production of children's leukemia drug being revived in China

A current shortage of a drug used to treat children's leukemia in China is expected to be relieved, reports thepaper.cn.

The mother of a young leukemia patient holds a bottle of mercaptopurine tablets from overseas. [Photo: Imagine China]

A pharmaceutical company in Zhejiang Province is going to resume the production this week of mercaptopurine tablets, a key medication used to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Zhebei Pharmaceutical says its manufacturing workshop built exclusively for mercaptopurine manufacturing has been approved by China's Food and Drug Administration, and that production of the drug is going to restart as soon as possible.

The certificate of Zhebei Pharmaceutical Corporation in Zhejiang has received to restart mercaptopurine manufacturing. [Photo: thepaper.cn]

Thepaper.cn reported last week that desperate parents of young leukemia patients have been forced to turn to mercaptopurine tablets from overseas due to the short supply.

However, that can cost as much as 1,000 yuan per bottle, while a domestically produced bottle of the same drug would cost less than 70 yuan per bottle.

Last week's report appears to have prompted action.

Chinese premier Li Keqiang called on the State Council to deal with the mercaptopurine shortage problem on Monday, November 20, urging relevant authorities to take effective measures to solve the issue and ensure the solid supply of domestically produced, cheap pills.

Six pharmaceutical manufacturers in China are allowed to produce mercaptopurine tablets, 4 of which stopped producing this medication a long time ago, while the other two, including Zhebei Pharmaceutical Corporation and Xingbang Pharmaceutical Corporation in Shaanxi, had suspended their production.

Xingbang Pharmaceutical in Shaanxi says its manufacturing will resume once the raw materials to produce the pills are approved by authorities.

Undated photo of domestically produced mercaptopurine. [Photo: thepaper.cn]