Unsafe drug firms face closure in blitz.

(From The Standard)

Byline: Pamela Pun

One third of China's 6,000 pharmaceutical manufacturers are under threat of closure unless they improve safety standards, the mainland Food and Drug Administration says.

The size of the crackdown on the mushrooming industry was disclosed at a conference in Shanghai this week by Bai Huilang, chief of the administration's safety supervision department.

Bai said 2,000 drug manufacturers across the country have been warned to begin complying with the rules of China's Good Manufacturing Practice by July 1. These businesses will then be further inspected and given until the end of the year to achieve …