Chinese firm fined $1.3bn for illegal production of rabies vaccine

A Chinese vaccination firm has been fined $1.3bn (£988m) after it was found to have illegally produced the human rabies vaccine.

Changchun Changsheng had blended different batches of vaccine fluid and used expired fluid to produce some of the batches, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The company also falsified production data for the vaccine.

This is not the first major vaccine scandal to hit China.

Changchun Changsheng's pharmaceutical production licence has also been revoked and its illegally produced vaccines have been confiscated.

Some of the company's executives may also face criminal charges.

"This is the most stringent administrative penalty on record," an official at the China Food and Drug Administration told financial news website Caixin.
"The company must be held responsible for its intentional fraud."