Blood plasma products sold by a Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical company are reported to have been contaminated with HIV.
According to state media and provincial government reports, more than 12,000 units of plasma were recalled after products in the same batch tested positive for the virus.
The intravenous immunoglobulin was produced by Shanghai Xinxing Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.
In addition to the news reports, the contamination was further confirmed in an online announcement by the company’s parent company China Meheco Group.
Confusingly, however, China’s National Medical Products Administration denied there was any HIV positive results in the batch.
The day after the company’s statement, the official Administration issued its own statement saying additional tests conducted for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C “turned negative”.
That statement was subsequently published by the state-owned National Business Daily but appears to have censored soon after.
